CHAMPAIGN – Mary Melton, a 64-year-old Champaign resident, used to begin her workdays with an early morning drive.
She’d head to the schools in the Champaign Unit 4 District where she worked as a crossing guard. She’d return home for a couple hours and then head back out in the afternoon for her next shift, sometimes traveling to three or four schools in a single day.
Melton, who considers herself an independent senior, said the job made her feel young. But now, that daily routine feels like a luxury.
“It’s a really nice job to have,” she said. As she went on to explain what her daily routine used to be, tears welled up in her eyes: “I miss my kids.”
Melton’s job had allowed her to afford a used Hyundai Accent to replace an older one that had reached 200,000 miles, she said.
But less than a month after buying the vehicle, it was stolen, and police would later inform her that she would not be getting her car back because it had been used in a homicide.
The day Melton learned this, she said she had just received the official license plate and registration and hadn’t gotten the chance to put the plate on the vehicle.
The incident caused a sharp disruption in Melton’s life. She stopped working because it was difficult for her, as a senior living with a disability, to travel via public transportation between schools on her back-to-back schedule.
Melton also had not finalized insurance coverage for the vehicle before it was stolen.
She later learned she’s still on the hook for her car loan, despite no longer having the vehicle in her possession.
Melton said she ended up hospitalized as she grew more worried about the financial toll.
“I don’t think people realize what stress can do to your body. I didn’t realize that it was taking that much of a toll on me,” she said.
A car in two crimes
Melton moved into Round Barn Manor last December and said she was excited about her life in this quiet, affordable housing designed for seniors.
In January, Melton made her first payment on her Hyundai and said she negotiated with her insurance agent to defer the first payment of insurance until February due to a packed work schedule during the holiday season.
But then on Feb. 7, before the first insurance payment was due, Melton said she received a call from a police officer around midnight. He came to her apartment to inform her that they had found her personal belongings, which had been stored in her vehicle, thrown out in front of the building. Police had identified her through an unfinished tax form.
That’s when Melton said she first noticed her car had disappeared from the spot where she usually parked it, right under her living room window.
Melton said the police officer told her there has been an increase in car thefts by juveniles in the area, and they did not find the vehicle in the usual dumping location after the ride.
Days later, Melton called to ask for an update. Police told her they had found the car.
“I was so happy to hear I was getting my car back,” Melton said, before realizing “there was a, ‘but.’”
The officer told Melton she would not get her vehicle back because it was being processed as evidence in a gun-related homicide.
She was overwhelmed by the stress of being unable to get to work, and it took a toll on her health.
“It just hit me like a ton of bricks what was going on. And I had taken a fall because I was going through those dizzy spells,” Melton said. “Then I fell again within 15 minutes, and I couldn’t get up.”
Melton said she called 911 and spent a week in the hospital, where she received medication and physical therapy. She is currently on medical leave from her job but worries about whether she’ll be able to keep it.
“I’m on Social Security right now and I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she added. “There’s now no job, no car. No car, no work.”
What happened to the vehicle
On Feb. 9 — the day before an officer told Melton her car had become evidence in a crime — a shooting took place near the 800 block of Mattis Avenue, about 0.4 miles from her apartment. A 17-year-old died and a 19-year-old was injured, according to police reports.
It was Champaign’s first homicide of 2026. The Champaign Police Department is still investigating and identifying suspects.
According to a press release, the deceased victim was found inside a vehicle with multiple fatal gunshot wounds. On Feb. 26, Melton said police informed her that the victim was killed inside her vehicle.
Melton said police told her she would not get her car back, even after the investigation is over.
A Champaign Police spokesperson said in an email to IPM News that the vehicle was “directly involved” in the shooting incident and “sustained considerable damage and contains physical evidence of a crime.”
The statement continues: “At this time, the vehicle is being processed to determine the facts of what happened that night as part of an ongoing homicide investigation. There is no timetable for the release of the vehicle.”
The Champaign Police Department declined IPM’s Freedom of Information Act request for preliminary reports and body camera footage of the incident due to the ongoing investigation.
Champaign Police said they assist vehicle owners whose cars are damaged in incidents like these by providing documentation to support insurance claims. Any remedy beyond private insurance, however, would require “a civil claim against those involved in the vehicle’s theft, after they have been identified and arrested.”
Melton said she believes the car may be a “total loss.”
“The Champaign Police department has been very kind and very understanding,” Melton said. “It’s just an unfortunate thing that happened and I’m caught in the middle of it. Or rather I, I was just another victim of this situation.”
Local resources for crime victims
In Illinois, victims who meet the criteria for a violent crime can apply for the Crime Victim Compensation Program to help offset financial losses and expenses caused by the crime.
The program was created under the Crime Victims Compensation Act to provide support for Illinois residents whose lives have been disrupted by violent crime. It offers up to $45,000 in reimbursement for eligible applicants.
Danielle Chynoweth, Cunningham Township supervisor, said she encourages victims who lack insurance coverage to seek help from state and local programs as soon as possible and connect with professionals who can help them negotiate with loan entities.
“It is difficult to navigate that system while also dealing with the trauma of being a victim of a crime,” Chynoweth said.
She said victims can seek out help from social workers in the Human Rights and Equity Office at Champaign for immediate support or service navigation.
The City of Champaign’s Human Rights and Equity Office launched the Community Gun Violence Reduction Blueprint in 2022, aimed at reducing gun violence and helping the community recover from trauma.
One of the blueprint’s objectives is to provide assistance to gun violence victims and those affected, including financial support, court accompaniment and mental health services.
An isolated incident, or a pattern of loss?
The day Melton moved into Round Barn Manor, she said the manager office told her there were no available resident parking spots for her. So Melton had to park her car in the visitor parking lot, located at the east side of the apartment.
Round Barn Manor has 156 housing units for seniors, with rent ranging from $690 to $740 a month. The company’s website says monthly rent is based on household income and residents must be at least 62 years old, retired or living with a disability.
Right beside the frontage road, the resident parking lot has about 40 spaces, while the visitor parking area has about 10. Residents on the waitlist for parking must park on the far east side of the building, according to Melton.
“So it’s a very long walk and then another long walk to get to my parking place,” she said.
Melton said management also informed her, after she moved in, that there had been a rash of car theft in the area in recent years and that the thefts appear to be driven by teenagers looking for a “joyride,” she said.
Melton said her car was a Hyundai – a sporty vehicle similar to others that have been stolen. According to the National Crime Insurance Bureau, Hyundai vehicles have dominated national auto theft data since 2023. The surge traces back to a 2022 TikTok trend that showed step-by-step methods for stealing certain models that do not require keys to start.
“They’re easy to steal. And management actually told me, ‘You’ll probably get your car stolen,’” Melton recalled. “I was very dismayed by what I heard.”
Round Barn Manor did not respond to IPM’s requests for comment.
After Melton found her car missing, she said other residents told her others have had their cars stolen in recent years.
According to crime data provided by the Champaign Police Department, no thefts were reported in 2025. But between 2023 and 2024, nine vehicles were stolen at Round Barn Manor before Melton’s case.
Those thefts were concentrated between February and May. Only two appear to be isolated incidents: In several cases, two or more vehicles were stolen on the same day, with owners reporting the thefts to police within minutes of each other.
Within a 0.25-mile radius of Round Barn Manor Apartments, 31 vehicle thefts were reported between 2021 and 2026.
Melton said if someone had told her about the prevalence of car thefts in her area, “maybe I might not have moved here.”
No car, no freedom
More than 20 days after the theft, Melton went to the Champaign Police Department to retrieve the remaining personal items from her trunk that had not been discarded. Melton said that’s when she received a final answer to her question about whether the vehicle would be returned: no.
She said she was grateful police were able to collect her belongings from the car: college books, vintage music tapes and photographs of her great-grandparents.
Back at her apartment, Melton stacked the salvaged items in paper bags in the corner of her living room, alongside the handheld stop sign she used for work. The license plate she had just received, never mounted on the car, remained sealed in the same plastic envelope it arrived in.
“Being without my car, it’s really taken a bite out of me in the sense that it took away my freedom,” Melton said, noting that she doesn’t like being “homebound.”
With support from the community, Melton said she received donations through an online fundraising platform. She said the first contribution came from a staff member at one of the schools where she worked.
“So I’m just gonna continue to hold on and settle myself and remember, it’s just a thing. And this too, shall pass,” she said.
Editor’s Note: Mary Melton is the relative of an employee at Illinois Public Media.