Amputee’s stolen van is located

Atlanta police find vehicle that contained specialized wheelchair.

Aimee Copeland was stirring the makings of a chicken pot pie Saturday night when she discovered “Sylvia,” her $100,000 customized van, had been stolen from in front of her home in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward.

“I just kept stirring,” she said Monday, in particularly good cheer after learning her van was found.

Copeland, 27, lost several limbs to a flesh-eating disease in 2012, so the specialized van is an invaluable asset in facilitating her mobility.

But it has been well-documented that Copeland doesn’t let anything stop her — not the theft of a van, not even the loss of both hands, a leg and a foot.

No specialized van to get her to her new internship at the Shepherd Center on Monday? Time for a Plan B.

Copeland got started early Monday in her motorized wheelchair for the 5-mile journey to her new job. It took 75 minutes.

“The sidewalks are a little rough in Atlanta,” she said.

Then on Monday afternoon, she got the good the news. Atlanta police found her Honda Odyssey, as well as the specialized titanium wheelchair that was inside, in an abandoned schoolyard in Atlanta.

Doctors amputated both of Copeland’s hands, her left leg and her right foot after she contracted a flesh-eating bac-

teria on May 1, 2012. The Snellville native’s leg became infected after she was injured while on a homemade zip line along the Little Tallapoosa River near Carrollton.

She fell to the water and rocks below, cutting her calf on a stone, which allowed bacteria to enter the wound.

At the time, she was a graduate student at the University of West Georgia. She later moved into a customized 2,000square-foot addition to her parent’s house.

The van was a gift from Steve Rayman of Steve Rayman Chevrolet and was modified for her use by Chris Collins of R and R Mobility.

Copeland is currently getting a master’s degree in social work from Valdosta State University and is finishing a move into the Fourth Ward home. The house is closer to her internship at the Shepherd Center, a reha- bilitation center where Copeland spent time after the amputations.

She is not giving up on Atlanta, although police warned her that Odyssey vans are prone to theft. She does, however, plan to install surveillance cameras at her new home.

COURTESY CHANNEL 2 ACTION NEWS Aimee Copeland, a survivor of flesh-destroying bacteria, had her $100,000 customized van stolen from her home in Atlanta’s Fourth Ward.