Woman hopes someone can help solve SLC car burglaries
Nov 3, 2025, 2:43 PM | Updated: 2:44 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — A woman said she was targeted in a series of car burglaries downtown while she was at a haunted attraction the night before Halloween, and on Sunday she asked for help to crack the case with surveillance photos she said captured a subsequent purchase with her stolen card.
Amber Kacherian said she visited Fear Factory on Thursday night and when she returned to her car near the corner of 900 S. 500 W., she found multiple cars with broken windows including her own.
“Just seeing the amount of damage and devastation and broken glass everywhere — my first emotion was shock,” Kacherian told KSL TV. “The second emotion was okay, now I need to go through what has he stolen, and then the immediate realization that he stole my entire purse.”
Kacherian said she doesn’t usually leave her purse in her car, but she did while visiting the haunted attraction, meaning her passport and credit cards were suddenly missing.
“Of course, I immediately locked the cards so he couldn’t use them, but I was still getting notifications that the cards were being used,” Kacherian said.
According to Kacherian, one of her cards was run at a West Valley City vape shop, and when she arrived there, she found that surveillance cameras had made some helpful captures of a yet-to-be identified man and his SUV.
“We did get a very clear image of his face and his vehicle,” Kacherian said. “I have the exact amounts that he spent, and so we went to the person who works at the shop and said these are the amounts, and he was able to pull up the exact transactions that were spent on my card, so it’s definitely him.”
Kacherian said she filed a report with police and shared the surveillance images she recovered from the vape shop with them.
On Sunday, Salt Lake City Police Sgt. Miles Southworth said officers were still early in their ongoing investigation but confirmed Kacherian’s police report and said police were working to tally up the number of car burglaries in the area that night.
Kevin Rhodehouse said the front passenger window of his car was broken in the same area as Kacherian’s.
“I’m not happy that this is happening to anybody,” he said by phone Sunday evening. “This is very frustrating.”
He told KSL a friend had her AirPods stolen from his vehicle along with one of her credit cards, and he said she soon learned that card had been used at multiple businesses including the same West Valley vape shop.
Though he and other friends were able to trace the AirPods to an apartment complex in West Valley, he said police had yet to make an arrest.
Southworth said it wasn’t uncommon for car burglars to target cars left around movie theaters, shopping malls or even haunted attractions, where the owners were likely to be occupied for an extended amount of time.
The officer advised everyone to secure and hide their valuables inside their vehicles to make them less interesting targets heading toward the holidays, and he encouraged anyone with information in this case to contact Salt Lake City Police Department at 801-799-3000.
“Watching the surveillance footage and seeing him go on a shopping spree with my cards — that’s what felt so violating,” Kacherian said.
Kacherian hoped someone would be able to identify the unknown man from the vape shop and urged anyone with information to report it to police.
“Let’s find this guy,” Kacherian said. “Let’s stop this from happening again — that’s the goal.”
