Search for stolen Penske truck leads to police chase, crash in Aurora

DENVER — A couple moving from North Carolina to Denver had their moving truck stolen. With the help, in part, of social media, the truck has been found, but not without first taking a wild ride.

The day Zachariah Rogers and Cullen Hodges moved to Denver from Raleigh, their 26-foot Penske truck was stolen from a parking lot near the Denver International Airport with all of their belongings inside.

The family started posting on social media, which led to the truck being spotted.

The Aurora Police Department got involved, pursuing the stolen truck towing a car going the wrong way near I-225 and 6th Avenue. But Aurora Police Department officers eventually had to stop the pursuit because the driver would not pull over. Police said they believed the truck had crossed into numerous police jurisdictions and had been involved with multiple incidents.

Authorities confirmed the stolen Penske truck had been involved in a crash on I-270, and the Penske truck started on fire.

From there, the suspects inside of the stolen Penske truck stole a different car, authorities say. That vehicle then crashed at Alameda Avenue and Potomac Street, shutting down all of eastbound Alameda Avenue and one westbound lane for several hours.

The people inside were taken into custody.

A spokesperson for the Denver Police Department said Tuesday that officers arrested Timothy Sutton, 33, as the suspect in the incident. He was taken to a hospital for evaluation before being handed over to Commerce City police, the spokesperson said.

It's unclear if anyone was hurt in either of the crashes.

Rogers and Hodges say some of their items were stolen and there's quite a bit of damage to the items that were still inside the moving truck.

"There's a few things that are burned up in here. But for the most part, we get to move in tomorrow with a lot of our things," Rogers said. "I'm eternally grateful for everybody that played a part in this. I can't say thank you enough."

Rogers says social media played a major role in helping find the truck.

"It's done probably 99% of the work for us. Everyone's watching and everyone has such easy access to that," Rogers said. "We got a lot of tips. So we just kept searching and kept going."

The couple say they have lost some valuable items in the road fire and some other items were stolen. But, Rogers and Cullen will move into their new home Tuesday with most of their belongings and an unbelievable story about their first day in Colorado.

"It is definitely the most interesting day one of living somewhere in my entire life," Rogers said. "I'll never forget it."