Employees surprise special-needs co-worker after home burglarized

Police are still searching for two individuals who ransacked an Ocoee home more than a month ago, stealing thousands of dollars in items. Since then, co-workers of one of the home’s residents have stepped up to help.

Five days per week, Patrick Murdock, who has special needs, heads to Miller’s Ale House near downtown Orlando with a ready smile.

Each shift, Murdock wraps hundreds of pieces of silverware in napkins and does food prep.

“You just roll it,” he said. “And you take a napkin band, and you just wrap it.”

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So when Murdock’s co-workers learned his family's home was burglarized and ransacked last month, they quickly began raising money for him.

“Oh, he's fantastic,” co-worker Michelle Reynolds said. “Everybody knows him, loves him. He's just a member of our family. And when somebody was hurting, we just wanted to help.”

Placed under a Christmas tree were the new versions of puzzles and games stolen from the family.

“He wasn't upset about the TV and the Wii,” Reynolds said. “It was those puzzles that meant something to him, that meant nothing to anybody else.”

Murdock said he was overwhelmed by his co-workers’ kindness.

“I was just so speechless over it. I didn't know what to say,” he said. “I just thought it was amazing, what they did.”

Murdock’s mother, Elizabeth Murdock, said she had the same reaction to the generosity after thieves tore through their home.

“I was like overwhelmed,” she said. “I just started crying.”

Elizabeth Murdock said their home was left in disarray.

“My beds were torn apart,” she said. “My end tables were all over the place.”

While her son enjoys his gifts, Elizabeth Murdock said she wants his co-workers to know how much their kindness means to him.

“These people are so amazing and awesome,” Patrick Murdock said. “This is where I need to be.”

The Ocoee Police Department said there have been several other burglaries in the Murdocks’ subdivision this year, but detectives said they haven't been able to tie the black Acura RDX they're searching for in this case to any other crimes.

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