In a bizarre incident that was caught on surveillance video, a woman is seen destroying a parked car over the course of several hours. Its owner, Stacy Omelianoff, said the car is a total loss, and one that she can't afford to replace. Omelianoff told KTLA that she left her car parked in front of a friend's home at Westmoreland Avenue and Beverly Boulevard in Koreatown over Thanksgiving. The next morning, police called to tell her that her car had been vandalized.
Video depicts an unidentified woman slashing the car's tires, carving letters and words into the paint with a piece of wood and a windshield wiper, wrenching off the grill, and jumping up and down on the roof until it dents. The footage begins at about 3 a.m. and continues until well after dawn.
The alleged vandal was taken into custody at about 8 a.m. on Friday morning after a witness called the police. Authorities indicated the woman may have been suffering from mental illness, and was placed on a 72-hour hold for psychiatric evaluation. The 72 hours would have elapsed by now; a call to the LAPD revealed no new information about the suspect at this time.
A tearful Omelianoff said she had just paid around $500 to fix her engine several days ago, which allowed her to spend Thanksgiving with loved ones. She had worked as a caretaker, but lost that job at the beginning of the month when the woman she cared for moved into a convalescence center. Omelianoff said she has no money left to fix the extensive damage to her car, which only has liability insurance. "This is what I get for thanking God for everything I had," she said.
She told ABC 7 that she doesn't even have money to tow the car, and that it's already received a ticket.
A GoFundMe account has been set up for Omelianoff by her cousin, and has raised nearly $5,000 at this time.
