Thornton woman loses life savings stored in freezer after Costco exchange

A woman is desperately looking for her life savings, which was stored in her freezer, after she exchanged her freezer for a new one.

Renee Reese said she kept over $35,000 in her freezer as a way to secure it incase her house burned down.

Denver7 investigated Reese’s claims that during a freezer exchange with Costco, her life savings was lost.

Reese suffers from an aggressive form of multiple sclerosis and said she wanted a new refrigerator and freezer combo, with dual French doors, so she could easily access the contents inside. She also said the disease limits her mobility and that by storing her money in the freezer it would save her trips to the bank.

Reese scrambled to empty her fridge and freezer right before the Costco subcontracted delivery workers arrived to exchange her old refrigerator and freezer for the new set.

Reese said she missed grabbing the money because the workers came with little notice, she was mourning the loss of a longtime friend and the bag containing the money was wrapped in white paper towels, which blended in with the freezer door.

“I thought my daughter had grabbed it, she thought I had grabbed it, then when I went to look for it to put it back, it wasn’t there,” Reese said.

She filed a report with Thornton police after tearing apart her house in search of the money. She also opened a claim with Costco. She said the company tracked down the old unit but said the money was not inside. Reese remains frustrated that Costco had not done more to question its employees, along with its multiple subcontracted delivery companies in Colorado.

Reese is concerned about the type of people hired by the subcontracted delivery companies and questions how thoroughly Costco and other retailers perform background checks of those people.

“Who’s checking these people? What if they’re rapists or pedophiles? I mean, nobody knows anything and you can’t talk to them, at least through the experience I’ve had,” she said.

Denver7 contacted Costco and a company spokesperson said the company is looking into the matter once more, but has not yet completed the work. The company has not yet responded to questions about its background check process.

Denver7 tracked down the small delivery company that actually handled the refrigerator exchange at Reese’s home. It said it also has not seen Reese’s money.