Overview
- Police say the theft took place on Aug. 14 when a man presented a valet ticket and drove off in a gray 2026 BMW X5 from the Hyatt Regency Savannah after telling staff he was a professional basketball player.
- Surveillance shows the suspect entering a white 2025 Audi A5 before taking the BMW and investigators later learned the Audi had been reported stolen and was found unlocked in the hotel garage.
- The loaner BMW belonged to a dealership and was tracked to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, prompting police to flag the vehicle as stolen in regional databases.
- Authorities released surveillance photos on Sept. 4 and described the suspect as a Black man about 20 to 30 years old but have made no public arrest or confirmed recovery of the BMW.
- Investigators have linked the BMW theft to an earlier valet disappearance of a Toyota on Aug. 5 and are probing how unique valet tickets or retrieval codes were obtained, a detail that could prompt hotels and dealerships to tighten key and ticket controls.