A decorated Army veteran and his wife just moved to the Bay Area from Nevada, and before they could even unload their U-Haul truck, it was stolen.
The theft happened in the early morning after Halloween at a Doubletree Hotel in Pleasanton, and 10-year veteran Jonathan Munoz lost much of his valuables, including his bronze star.
Munoz and his wife were staying at the hotel because their original hotel was in Windsor, inside the fire zone last week. On the day they were supposed to move into a new apartment, someone took all of their belongings.
Munoz and his wife were starting a new adventure, and Munoz was starting a new job at Veterans Affairs.
"We were just so excited to work for the VA, we drove on out here," Munoz said. "I went down to where the U-Haul was parked, and there was nothing there. My heart just dropped. There's no kind of words for that feeling."
Munoz said their entire lives were inside the moving van. All their furniture, their documents and his bronze star from three deployments.
"Things that can't ever be replaced because of the symbolism," Munoz said. "And for instance, all my medical records from my career. And as a disabled veteran that is beyond priceless."
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Police are investigating the theft. Munoz said the hotel doesn't have surveillance video of the parking lot, and he believes they should buy more cameras.
As for the U-Haul, he hopes the thief returns it.
"She gave up everything to come out here," he said of his wife, "and everything was in that truck that belonged to her and belonged to me."
