A tiny house stolen from St. Louis was recovered this morning (Dec. 19) in Jefferson County. The 12-by-20-foot home was stolen Saturday (Dec. 15) from outside a St. Louis business and was recovered on Gravel Logging Road in House Springs, Jefferson County Sheriff Dave Marshak said.
The home, which sits on a trailer, belongs to Meghan Panu, 23, of St. Louis. Panu, along with her mother, Laurie, and brother, Alex, were reunited with the stolen home this afternoon at Ives Towing, 10198 Old Hwy. 21, in Hillsboro this afternoon.
Panu said it did not look like the home or trailer were damaged, but she said she wouldn’t know for sure until she started working on it again.
“I’m happy this wasn’t a long process and we were able to get it back so quickly,” Panu said.
When the home was stolen, it was at Refab, 3130 Gravois Ave., a business that disassembles structures and recycles and sells the building materials.
Panu said the door to the tiny home was locked and the hitch on the trailer was locked. She also said bricks were placed around the trailer’s tires.
“It doesn’t guarantee that someone wouldn't take it,” Panu said. “I didn’t necessarily anticipate this could happen.”
Marshak said an anonymous tip led to the recovery of the home.
Panu said she went to Facebook and Twitter to get out her story about the stolen home, in which she had invested $20,000 to build.
That led to various tips about where it possible was sighted. One report said it was parked at an Iron Skillet restaurant in Kingdom City, and another said it had been spotted traveling on an interstate heading toward California.
“Everything I received was helpful,” Panu said. “I appreciate it. It didn’t feel like a wild goose chase. The people who were coming to me had legitimate reasons to believe they saw it and could give me descriptions.”
Panu, who graduated from Webster University in May, said the tiny home was part of her senior thesis project for her environmental studies degree.
She has been living in an apartment while completing the tiny home, which she started working on two years ago.
Panu said she plans to complete construction by the spring and then place it on a lot in the Benton Park West neighborhood in St. Louis, where she’ll live.
Mark Ives, who owns the towing company, said he would not charge Panu for transporting the home after it was recovered or for returning it to St. Louis.
“He is going to give her an early Christmas gift and not charge her for towing and recovery,” Marshak added.