MEMPHIS, Tenn. — William Canada, the man wanted for stealing items from a Texas family with ties to St. Jude, has been taken into custody.
The 34-year-old was booked late Monday night and charged with burglary to a motor vehicle. He also had active warrants for domestic assault, theft, evading arrest, burglarizing a vehicle and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon.
Police say Canada ransacked a St. Jude family’s vehicle while they were parked outside of Gus’s Chicken’s Downtown location this past Thursday.
The suspect got away with I-pad’s, laptop’s, luggage, running gear and precious pictures of a four-year-old girl who passed away from Leukemia after receiving treatment at St. Jude.
“I mean, I just don’t understand why somebody would do that. It doesn’t belong to you, just leave our stuff alone,” said Rachel Olson, a member of the family whose vehicle was broken into.
The city of Memphis rallied in the family’s honor to help them over the weekend.
“It started with St. Jude. They offered to have our car towed and kept it in a safe place for us overnight,” said Austyn’s Aunt Rachel Olson.
After that, the phones kept ringing. Strangers wanting to donate. T-shirt companies and stores offering running shoes and gear.
In April 2017, Canada was arrested for stealing from another St. Jude patient’s vehicle.
In that case, the family was parked at a hotel when police said he broke into their car and took leg braces and medicine that belonged to a four-year-old St. Jude patient.
Court records show after Canada confessed to the crime after he was arrested for two other car burglaries.
