MAHONING VALLEY Thieves steal woman's memories

The household goods were stolen within one hour of arriving in Liberty.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
LIBERTY -- Melissa Ferman, a 33-year-old Californian, doesn't have one fond memory of the Mahoning Valley.
"I don't want anything to do with the Youngstown area," the mother of three said from her home in Palmdale, Calif.
It's here where her deceased father's possessions and old photographs of her childhood were stolen.
Ferman's tribulations began June 25 when she and her husband, Anthony, flew from their home to Pittsfield, Mass., to visit her ailing 58-year-old father, Andrew Mazzarella.
On the day the Fermans arrived, her father was diagnosed with stomach cancer. He died five days later.
After the death
Ferman said she had her father cremated. Then was the matter of packing her father's household goods in a rental truck, with his car towed behind on a trailer.
The house was cleaned out in preparation for its sale, she explained.
"Nothing spectacular," Ferman said in describing the stuff in the truck. "There was nothing expensive or anything."
Her father's ashes and death certificates were in the car.
About 11:30 p.m. July 7, the Fermans pulled off Interstate 80 and got a room at the Holiday Inn-MetroPlex rather than sleeping in the truck parked at a rest area.
The next morning, everything was gone. "The parking lot was completely empty," she recalled.
Ferman said a police officer was driving through the parking lot and told the couple the truck and car were "long gone" and there was nothing he could really do about it.
It took the thieves only an hour to spot the truck and car, peel the truck's steering column and drive the whole rig away.
She knows it took an hour because the drivers of three school buses parked in the motel lot told them the truck and car weren't in the lot when they pulled in about 12:30 a.m. July 8.
The couple returned to their room "to collect our thoughts," Ferman said. They decided to rent a car, drive to Philadelphia and fly back home.
Memories stolen
But before they could leave, Youngstown police recovered the truck and car on a ramp leading to the Himrod Avenue Expressway.
Fortunately for the woman who was mourning the loss of her father, the car containing his ashes and death documents wasn't touched.
But the truck was empty. Gone were her father's belongings, including the family photographs, and Ferman's Catskill (N.Y.) High School yearbook and stuffed animals that stirred up memories of her childhood.
"I was so scared. I just wanted to run home," Ferman said, pointing out she's a strong woman, having been born in Brooklyn, N.Y.
She and her husband drove the car the rest of the way. She was happy to return to California and be with her sons, ages 18 and 9, and 17-year-old daughter.
Anyone with information about the case can contact Liberty Township police.
yovich@vindy.com