BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. — A thief stole a woman’s car right out of her own driveway while she was asleep in Bonita Springs on Thursday night.

Kaela Ballard lives on Marco Drive. She said it’s a relatively safe area.

She said Thursday was a normal day for her. She drove home from work, locked her car, ordered Uber Eats and went to bed…just like she would every other day. 

When she woke up her boyfriend asked her where her car was.

“Naturally I thought he was just playing a prank on me,” Ballard said.

But it wasn’t a prank — her 2018 silver Infiniti Q50 that she bought only a year ago was gone.

“The fact that somebody has the audacity to be under my bedroom window as I was sleeping was just kind of shocking. I was surprised they pulled it off without waking my dog because he barks at noises that I never even hear,” Ballard said.

Ballard said she called police and they were able to pull photos of her car at a nearby intersection on Coconut Road right across from Coconut Point at 3 a.m. 

She said deputies told her three cars were stolen in the Estero Area in the past few days.

“I just want to emphasize how really low that is to steal from other people who work very hard for what they have and get a real job,” Ballard said.

Mike Rowe works at Karr Automotive in Fort Myers. With the uptick in car thefts, he recommends drivers use a tracker. 

“The best option to track your car after a theft is the subscription-based ones in the newer vehicles, but if you don’t have a newer vehicle this is your option,” he said.

A car tracker can be bought on Amazon and installed by anyone. It plugs right into the OBD port under the dashboard. You can hide it from a thief by purchasing a “Y” cable and tucking it in the dash.

“As long as this stuff is hidden, a thief is not gonna know immediately that there is a tracker. You would probably be able to see the last place that the car was before it was removed,” Rowe said.

Ballard said she was pretty sure her car has a tracker because it is relatively new.

“I was surprised to find out it didn’t…and really let down by that,” she said.

Ballard said she will make sure the next car she gets has a tracker before buying it. She is hoping for the best and has faith that detectives will find her car.