Beltsville family recovers stolen $80,000 Camaro ZL1 after Memorial Day theft

A stolen graduation gift ended up recovered on a street in Adelphi, but only after a viewer saw the News4 story and alerted police. For Mimi Arnett’s family in Beltsville, the return of the 2023 Camaro ZL1 brought relief after a Memorial Day theft that exposed how vulnerable high-value cars can be in Prince George’s County.

The theft happened around 3 a.m. on Memorial Day, when someone took the car from a parking space just outside the family’s home in Beltsville. Arnett said the Camaro ZL1 was a graduation present from her and the child’s father after their son earned his third graduate degree from the University of Maryland. The car, valued at about $80,000, was the kind of gift meant to mark achievement, not become a theft case.

More than 24 hours later, the car was found abandoned about 15 minutes from the family’s home in Adelphi. Arnett said it was in good shape and that the broken window appeared to be the main damage. Police planned to process the vehicle for fingerprints, DNA, or other evidence that could help identify who took it.

The timing of the recovery showed how much public attention can matter when a vehicle disappears from a residential block. In this case, a person who saw the report called police, helping close the gap between a neighborhood theft and a police response. In a county where residents told News4 this was not the first car theft or break-in they had seen, that kind of information can be the difference between a dead end and a lead.

The Beltsville theft also fits a wider pattern. In April, NBC4 Washington reported that an international theft ring in the Washington area had stolen more than 100 vehicles and used reprogramming devices bought online to get into cars. The Highway Loss Data Institute later said the Camaro ZL1 ranked as the most-stolen vehicle among model year 2022-24 vehicles in its 2025 analysis, with the regular Camaro also near the top of the list. Maryland State Police say a car is stolen every 27 minutes in Maryland.

The family’s recovery does not erase the disruption of losing a car bought to celebrate a major milestone, but it shows how quickly a theft can spread beyond one driveway. In Prince George’s County, the case landed where many residents already feel the strain most: at the intersection of visible high-end vehicles, recurring property crime, and the hard work of getting stolen property back at all.