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'I'm like, 'oh my god, they took my whole life': Woman's lifelong dream gone after food truck stolen in Jeffersontown

Carmen Mata says she parked the truck in her usual spot Sunday morning, and someone took it.

JEFFERSONTOWN, Ky. — Imagine showing up to your workplace and it's gone - just vanished.

For Carmen Mata, Taqueria La Guerita was more than a food truck, it was a lifelong dream, and now it's stolen.

"They take everything,” Mata said. “It's like I can't do nothing. Nothing.”

Mata said she works from Wednesday to Saturday, so on Sunday around 2:30 a.m., she parked the truck at El Nopal on Blakenbaker as she always does. The owner of El Nopal is her former boss and close friend.

“I mean, never nothing happens,” Mata said.

When she came back on Wednesday, she was shocked to see it was gone.

“I'm like, 'oh my god, they took my whole life,’” Mata said.

And it's not just her life, Mata feels this hurts everyone who invested into her dream.

“That's why it broke my heart because it's everybody, that's my family,” Mata said. “It's everything in there."

Not to mention, Mata has two employees now jobless right before Christmas.

Though she's devastated, Mata said she's grateful for the outpouring of support she's received on social media and on GoFundMe.

“It's a lot of bad people over here, but it's a lot of good ones,” Mata said. “Thank you. God bless you, everybody.”

Jeffersontown Police said there are detectives on the case.

One of Mata's friends said they saw the truck outside of Dick's Sporting Goods at Oxmoor Mall on Shelbyville Road.

Now, Mata drives around looking for the truck, hoping and praying for an answer and for whoever took it to come clean.

"To change their mind and change their hearts,” Mata said.

If you have any information you're encouraged to call the Jeffersontown Police Department.

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