SYLVANIA, Ohio — A Sylvania man's prized possession is now missing.
"I just never thought it would happen here," said Dean Holley, the owner of a now-stolen 1972 Z28 red Chevrolet Camaro Split Bumper.
Holley said his car was stolen out of his garage during the overnight hours of June 13-14.
"I was kind of in shock at first, but then I got really mad," Holley said of when he discovered the theft.
Sylvania police are currently handling the investigation.
Detectives told WTOL 11 that around 2 a.m. on June 14, the car's license plate was detected near Tremainsville Road in Toledo.
Since then, there has been no sight of the classic car.
"You try to narrow down a window of when it likely occurred, and if you can get a direction of flight, things of that nature," said Sylvania police Det. Sgt. Justin Music. "Then if you can find any path for follow-up, that's what we've been doing ever since we heard of the report."
Twenty stolen vehicle reports have been filed in Sylvania since 2022, according to police.
In this case, Holley's car was secured in a garage.
"Our victim unfortunately did a lot of things right and he still was victimized in this event," Music said.
The alleged thieves broke deadlocks to get inside the garage, and from there were able to push the car onto the road before taking off. Keys were not used to start the car, according to police.
Holley is now searching for an answer.
"It came up missing and I'm just devastated," he said. "I mean 20, 21, 22 years of working on this car to get it to where it's at and then when they took it, they didn't even take the hood with it."
The hood, being worked on in Holley's garage, was left behind.
Holley says he invested around $50,000 into the car since he bought it in 2003. He intended it to be a family heirloom for his son, Anthony.
"He (Anthony) already knew he was going to get it," he said. "He's helped me at times work on it and it's just my lifelong dream. That was my dream car."
But that dream has turned into a nightmare for Holley and his family.
"I can fix what's wrong with it, I know I can fix what's wrong with it. It's not a problem with me," Holley said. "I just want my car back."