- Adam Jorgenson went to wash his car with his two daughters Charley, eight, and Autumn, two, during a Kwik Trip in Oak Creek on Sunday
- But a thief jumped into his SUV as he left to grab a rag and sped away with the vehicle that had his two children in the back.
- The carjacker realized the car was useless without the key fob and threw it away a mile away. Charley then called her mother and left a panicked voicemail
An eight-year-old girl managed to save herself and her toddler sister from a carjacking after a brazen thief stole their father’s SUV in Milwaukee.
Adam Jorgenson went to wash his car with his two daughters Charley, eight, and Autumn, two, during a Kwik Trip in Oak Creek on Sunday. But a thief jumped into his SUV when the father left to grab a cloth and sped away with the vehicle with his two children in the back.
The carjacker quickly realized the car was useless without the key fob and threw it away a mile away. Charley then called her mother and left a ballot: ‘I need you! We lost daddy,” before police rescued them.
She felt she had to ‘do something’ and told the local television station WTMJ: ‘I was scared. I thought, “What’s happening?”
Oak Creek police have arrested three people, ages 17, 20 and 21, in connection with the incident and they are all charged with misdemeanor assault.
An eight-year-old girl managed to save herself and her toddler sister from a carjacking after a thief stole their father’s SUV in Milwaukee
Adam Jorgenson (left) went to wash his car with his two daughters Charley, eight, (right) and Autumn, two, during a Kwik Trip in Oak Creek on Sunday
But a thief jumped into his SUV as he left to grab a rag and sped away with the vehicle with his two children in the back. Pictured: Kwik Trip in Oak Creek
Jorgenson had left his SUV running after washing when he went to get the cloth. Someone stopped him to ask for directions, and then the thief jumped in.
“He told me to leave,” Charley said. ‘I thought, “What should I do? Should I run and be a scaredy cat or should I save my sister too.”
“So I said, ‘What about the fall?’ I should try to kick him or defend myself and Autumn. But then I thought, “I have to sit in my seat and do nothing. Stay here, do the questions.”
“When I realized Dad had the key, I thought, ‘He can’t do anything without the key,’” Charley added.
The young girl said the driver asked her where the car keys were and she told him her father had them.
The thief then left the car a mile away and she picked up her father’s phone and called her mother.
‘Mommy, I need you! We lost daddy,” she was heard saying in the voicemail. While two-year-old Autumn said, “Where to dada?”
Jorgenson had called 911 during the Kwik Trip and spoke to his wife on a separate phone as she tracked them via his iPhone’s location.
Police found the young girls safe and unharmed at a Batteries Plus Bulbs store.
The thief then left the car a mile away and she grabbed her father’s phone and called her mother to rescue her and her sister Autumn (center).
Police found the young girls safe and unharmed at a Batteries Plus Bulbs store
“I ran out of the back of that police car as fast as I could to hug them,” Jorgenson said.
The father said he wants to warn other parents about the dangers of leaving their children unattended in the car.
“It’s damn simple,” he added. ‘In the winter you go outside with your groceries and you have two small children.
“You’ll want to put them in the warm car and take your cart back to the corral. That is no longer the correct order.
‘Your children may need to be cold outside with you for a few minutes before you start the car and put them in. It took me two seconds to respond to someone and then sneak in.”
Car thefts in Milwaukee have increased 36 percent in the past three years.
DailyMail.com has contacted Oak Creek police for comment.