Ora Cook stands next to a window that held an air conditioner until Tuesday morning when a car was rammed into her mobile home, shattering the windows and ceiling. (The Vicksburg Post/PAT SHANNAHAN)

A car thief should have waited for the rear window to defrost before backing up; instead of making a clean getaway, he slammed directly into a neighboring home.

That version of events was being investigated Wednesday by Warren County officials.

Johnnie Stevenson told authorities he left his engine running to warm up around 5:20 Tuesday, on the season’s first morning with a heavy frost.

Sheriff Martin Pace said Stevenson said it was while he was in his home making his lunch that someone saw an opportunity.

That person put the car in reverse, but unable to see, knocked Ora Cook’s home four feet off its blocks, breaking windows, damaging the floor, ceiling and walls, and destroying the toilet and air conditioner.

“It’s just gone,” Cook said. “I don’t have a home. It’s demolished.”

Cook wasn’t there for the excitement. She said she had spent the night with her mother, and returned around 7 a.m. to find her home in the Berryman Road park in ruins.

“I don’t really know what happened,” Cook said. “Somebody is going to pay for something. I’m just homeless now.”

With no insurance to help with the damages, Cook said she will stay with a sister temporarily.

In the report, Stevenson says the car thief must have fled on foot after the accident.

“We have no leads or suspects at this time,” Pace said. No one witnessed the accident, and no suspicious people were found during a search of the area.