Cape Coral community comes together to replace stolen bike for young boy

CAPE CORAL, Fla. (WINK) — Surveillance video captured the heartbreaking moment a 10-year-old Cape Coral boy, Hayden, lost his prized bike, taken from his front yard one evening.

“We received a call after 10 p.m. that the child's bike was missing,” said Lisa Maglione-Chenault, a neighbor who caught the act on her security camera. “We pulled up the footage and saw the people who took it, though they were covered.”

For Hayden, the bike wasn’t just a toy; it was his “safe space,” a source of joy and routine in his daily life. “When I heard it was taken… my heart just fell,” Hayden said.

After the search hit a dead-end, neighbors stepped in, starting with Lisa’s daughter, Angela Wilkinson. “We came up with a plan to reach out to social media,” Angela said.

When social media posts gained little traction, a friend of Angela’s, Ashley Sherrill, helped expand the search. They reached out to Walmart. While the store couldn’t supply the bike, they referred the neighbors to its manufacturer, Kent.

Kent discovered that only three limited-edition Kent 20” Nightmare BMX bikes remained in a California warehouse. The company combined parts from all three to recreate Hayden’s exact bike and shipped it to Cape Coral at no cost.

The big reveal brought pure joy. “I didn't know I was actually going to get a new bike,” Hayden said. Neighbors cheered as he hopped on for his first ride.

“It just felt like justice needed to be served,” Ashley said.

From neighbors to a manufacturer hundreds of miles away, teamwork turned heartbreak into happiness and reminded the community of the power of coming together.

“I think neighbors should always pull together and be there for each other,” Lisa said.