Stella Randolph walked out of the grocery store on Friday, Sept. 30, and when she saw her prized pickup truck she very nearly sat there on the blacktop and cried.

First she noticed the tailgate.

Its glossy black paint was marred by multiple gashes, some of which dug into the silver metal below the paint.

Randolph, who lives in Durkee, walked slowly around the 2015 GMC Canyon, her dismay growing with each stride.

There were more deep scratches on the rear fenders, the doors, the hood.

“There wasn’t a mark on it when I bought it,” said Randolph, a disabled widow who turned 76 last month.

She bought the truck in March of this year.

The purchase culminated a challenge she had set for herself years before.

Randolph said her husband died in 1999. Relying on Social Security payments, she said she had to give up her home in Dayville. She’s been homeless five times since.

But over the years, Randolph said she strived to save money to buy a pickup truck.

“I wanted so bad to get this truck,” she said.

When she finally achieved that goal this March, Randolph said she was “feeling so good about myself.”

She felt just the opposite when she walked out of the Albertsons store about 4:20 p.m. on Sept. 30.

Randolph said she had been inside for about 50 minutes, shopping for groceries and waiting to pick up a prescription.

She said she usually drives to Baker City to shop on the day she receives her Social Security check.

She has a handicapped parking pass, and she parked in a space near the store’s entrance.

Randolph reported the vandalism to the Baker County Sheriff’s Office, and deputy Talon Colton took a report on Saturday, Oct. 1 at the travel trailer in Durkee where Randolph has lived for about three years.

Randolph said she’s fortunate that her insurance will pay for repairs. She had an appraisal done and the estimated cost is just short of $6,000.

“The insurance will cover it, but that’s not the point,” Randolph said. “I’m not vengeful, but I think someone should be punished for this.”

Ashley McClay, public information officer for the Sheriff’s Office, said Colton has reviewed video from the grocery store and from Randolph’s home, but no suspects have been identified.

Anyone with information can call Colton at the Sheriff’s Office, 541-523-6415.