Woman leaves car unlocked with keys visible in it. And surprise, it vanished

A Hilton Head Island woman who thought she was in a safe area left her car unlocked and her keys in plain sight overnight at a bar and returned the next day to find the vehicle gone, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff's Office report says.

The 1999 blue Ford Taurus station wagon was stolen between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m. Tuesday from the Mickey's Pub parking lot on William Hilton Parkway, the report said.

The woman told police she left her car in the lot overnight because she had too much to drink and got a ride home from someone else. Her car was unlocked and the keys were left in the exposed center console. When she returned to pick up her car the next morning, it had vanished.

The car is registered in her mother's name, but no one else has permission to use it, the report said.

This story was originally published June 14, 2018 at 3:18 PM with the headline "Woman leaves car unlocked with keys visible in it. And surprise, it vanished."