Seattle Car Thieves
04-28-2009, 10:06 AM
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Seattle Car Thieves
Hey so this is a long story I keep telling people I thought I should post it somewhere, particularly here because the information might help other theft victims recover their cars. Also I don't really expect it but I suppose if someone has some idea of who the thieves might be, by all means let me know.
My EG Civic VX hatch was stolen less than a month after I bought it with my best road bike and a bunch of my tools and stuff inside it, about 10 minutes after I parked it in front of my apartment at 7:00 PM on a Friday. Right as I was parking these 2 young guys in a black EG hatch crept by, staring at my car. The one in the passenger seat was wearing a hoodie with the hood on, now I know why. I got a good look at the driver. They gave me the creeps so I locked the bike's frame to it's wheels while I went inside to check my email, etc. By the time I came outside, about 9pm, the car was gone. My neighbor who parked in the same spot said he got home at about 7:30, so they snagged it quick while I was inside. My guess is they used a shaved key. The bike was a Pinarello, it was worth about as much as the car. That was the last time I ever leave a bike in a car for any amount of time.
Since I knew better than to hope that the cops find it (as if they'd even look), I took to searching for it, posting flyers everywhere and posting all it's details on craigslist over and over, as well as searching for parts that could have come from it on there and ebay.
I used my graphic design skills to make a very visible flyer for it with the make, model and especially the license plate clearly readable from across the street. I printed hundreds of these flyers and put them on telephone poles in all the known areas where stolen cars have been found, using local blogs and old news articles to identify those areas. One very strange thing -- in all the areas I posted them in, the ones in my neighborhood (Beacon Hill), kept getting torn down. Torn down very quickly and repeatedly.
I saw the kid who drove past my car the night it was stolen a couple times, once at the local Beacon Hill Red Apple supermarket with a bunch of his little gangsta friends. They all have short hair and wear a lot of sweats and hoodies, mostly dress in white/grey/black. The kid I saw driving, who I saw again, was wearing a white T shirt with weird writing all over it from felt tip markers. They got into a newer model Scion XA, lowered on red anodized rims. It had a 'baby on board' sign in the back window. I had seen the same car in the neighborhood before, near Beacon Ave. S. and S. Graham St. I got it's license plates and tried to tell all this to the cops but they wouldn't even listen.
My search lasted over a month, at which time I just about gave up finding the car and concentrated on the bike - a high end vintage racing bike, with custom paint - I thought for sure it would turn up someday. I posted ads with multiple photos of it on craigslist over and over.
Then one Monday night at 10pm I get an email from a craigslist reader - he wrote "I just saw your bike, in your car - it was at 45th Ave. NE and NE 55th St. .. if you hurry it might still be there". I drove straight there, and words cannot describe my relief when I came to that dead end street and saw it's plates. The car and bike were both intact, they had only taken what they could easily carry - the stereo, the battery, my bike helmet (a $250 helmet, the only one I ever found that fits my head perfectly). Of course all my tools were gone too.
While waiting for a cop to come and fingerprint it (he didn't) I asked the people in the house next to it if they saw anything. They said yes - about a week ago when they first noticed it there they saw these three kids taking my stuff out of it, and they recognized them because they've seen them often around a house 2 doors down from theirs! They thought they lived there, but later with more info I doubt they do.
I passed all this info on to the cops and of course they did nothing. They didn't even talk to the witness who saw and recognized them. So, after a month went by, I printed up a flyer with pictures of my missing stuff and took it up there on a Friday evening.
When I knocked on the first door, the kid who answered the door was about 12-13 but looked just like the kid who I saw driving by the night the car was stolen, the same kid I saw at the supermarket. I have no proof but I believe he's his little brother. He acted pissy and wanted me to go away, but his mom and dad took my flyer and talked to me. They said that no teenagers lived there but they'd let me know if they saw my stuff.
When I knocked on the next door, in the duplex next door to them, the kid who answered pointed at the flyer immediately, at my helmet and said "that's behind our house!" He lead me back there and sure enough, just over the fence in the park behind the duplex was my bike helmet. He said these three kids, teenagers, are over there often and he saw them throw it back there.
I called the cops, asked them to come out and meet me there. I wanted them to at least talk to these people. I went looking in the park over the fence (part of the Burke-Gillman Trail) where there was other stuff - kids bicycles, TVs, a stereo, a newer Epson all-in-one printer, people's personal effects. I didn't find any more of my stuff - but I did find a shotgun. I called the cops again and they came out within about 30 minutes.
Now I don't believe the teenagers who stole my car live there. My theory is that the young guy has some older friends who use his house, and the dead end street where my car was found, as a pit stop for stolen cars and other stuff they steal. I believe this because when I was around his age I was a little hood and my thief friends used me the same way, until eventually they robbed my family's house and I found better friends.
My story basically ends here because even if I found the rest of my things it would be very difficult to prove they're mine. Why I'm posting this is, for one, to tell how I got my stolen car back, and secondly to help anyone else in the area who is searching for theirs. I encourage you to go check out that dead end street, and poke around in the park behind their house like I did. You might find your own stuff and/or car there.
If you're in Seattle, and have any idea who these thieves might be by all means please speak up. Keep in mind there might be laws regarding the identity of minors that might apply. Not that I really care. The internet is great for making anonymous posts.
What really sucks is that I have to mention it, just to identify them, the thieves seen taking my stuff and the ones I saw casing my car the night it was stolen appeared to be of Southeast Asian descent. I don't like even saying that because I don't want people in Laurelhurst to be even more suspicious of Cambodians and Laotians than they already are (it's a really WASPy neighborhood). For all I know that family are a bunch of perfectly nice people who might have some kids in their family with problems, who might be thieves.
Some photos courtesy of Google Street View;
The house where my helmet was found behind, where the kids seen taking stuff from my car have been seen often at -
Where my car was found -
A map of the area -
My EG Civic VX hatch was stolen less than a month after I bought it with my best road bike and a bunch of my tools and stuff inside it, about 10 minutes after I parked it in front of my apartment at 7:00 PM on a Friday. Right as I was parking these 2 young guys in a black EG hatch crept by, staring at my car. The one in the passenger seat was wearing a hoodie with the hood on, now I know why. I got a good look at the driver. They gave me the creeps so I locked the bike's frame to it's wheels while I went inside to check my email, etc. By the time I came outside, about 9pm, the car was gone. My neighbor who parked in the same spot said he got home at about 7:30, so they snagged it quick while I was inside. My guess is they used a shaved key. The bike was a Pinarello, it was worth about as much as the car. That was the last time I ever leave a bike in a car for any amount of time.
Since I knew better than to hope that the cops find it (as if they'd even look), I took to searching for it, posting flyers everywhere and posting all it's details on craigslist over and over, as well as searching for parts that could have come from it on there and ebay.
I used my graphic design skills to make a very visible flyer for it with the make, model and especially the license plate clearly readable from across the street. I printed hundreds of these flyers and put them on telephone poles in all the known areas where stolen cars have been found, using local blogs and old news articles to identify those areas. One very strange thing -- in all the areas I posted them in, the ones in my neighborhood (Beacon Hill), kept getting torn down. Torn down very quickly and repeatedly.
I saw the kid who drove past my car the night it was stolen a couple times, once at the local Beacon Hill Red Apple supermarket with a bunch of his little gangsta friends. They all have short hair and wear a lot of sweats and hoodies, mostly dress in white/grey/black. The kid I saw driving, who I saw again, was wearing a white T shirt with weird writing all over it from felt tip markers. They got into a newer model Scion XA, lowered on red anodized rims. It had a 'baby on board' sign in the back window. I had seen the same car in the neighborhood before, near Beacon Ave. S. and S. Graham St. I got it's license plates and tried to tell all this to the cops but they wouldn't even listen.
My search lasted over a month, at which time I just about gave up finding the car and concentrated on the bike - a high end vintage racing bike, with custom paint - I thought for sure it would turn up someday. I posted ads with multiple photos of it on craigslist over and over.
Then one Monday night at 10pm I get an email from a craigslist reader - he wrote "I just saw your bike, in your car - it was at 45th Ave. NE and NE 55th St. .. if you hurry it might still be there". I drove straight there, and words cannot describe my relief when I came to that dead end street and saw it's plates. The car and bike were both intact, they had only taken what they could easily carry - the stereo, the battery, my bike helmet (a $250 helmet, the only one I ever found that fits my head perfectly). Of course all my tools were gone too.
While waiting for a cop to come and fingerprint it (he didn't) I asked the people in the house next to it if they saw anything. They said yes - about a week ago when they first noticed it there they saw these three kids taking my stuff out of it, and they recognized them because they've seen them often around a house 2 doors down from theirs! They thought they lived there, but later with more info I doubt they do.
I passed all this info on to the cops and of course they did nothing. They didn't even talk to the witness who saw and recognized them. So, after a month went by, I printed up a flyer with pictures of my missing stuff and took it up there on a Friday evening.
When I knocked on the first door, the kid who answered the door was about 12-13 but looked just like the kid who I saw driving by the night the car was stolen, the same kid I saw at the supermarket. I have no proof but I believe he's his little brother. He acted pissy and wanted me to go away, but his mom and dad took my flyer and talked to me. They said that no teenagers lived there but they'd let me know if they saw my stuff.
When I knocked on the next door, in the duplex next door to them, the kid who answered pointed at the flyer immediately, at my helmet and said "that's behind our house!" He lead me back there and sure enough, just over the fence in the park behind the duplex was my bike helmet. He said these three kids, teenagers, are over there often and he saw them throw it back there.
I called the cops, asked them to come out and meet me there. I wanted them to at least talk to these people. I went looking in the park over the fence (part of the Burke-Gillman Trail) where there was other stuff - kids bicycles, TVs, a stereo, a newer Epson all-in-one printer, people's personal effects. I didn't find any more of my stuff - but I did find a shotgun. I called the cops again and they came out within about 30 minutes.
Now I don't believe the teenagers who stole my car live there. My theory is that the young guy has some older friends who use his house, and the dead end street where my car was found, as a pit stop for stolen cars and other stuff they steal. I believe this because when I was around his age I was a little hood and my thief friends used me the same way, until eventually they robbed my family's house and I found better friends.
My story basically ends here because even if I found the rest of my things it would be very difficult to prove they're mine. Why I'm posting this is, for one, to tell how I got my stolen car back, and secondly to help anyone else in the area who is searching for theirs. I encourage you to go check out that dead end street, and poke around in the park behind their house like I did. You might find your own stuff and/or car there.
If you're in Seattle, and have any idea who these thieves might be by all means please speak up. Keep in mind there might be laws regarding the identity of minors that might apply. Not that I really care. The internet is great for making anonymous posts.
What really sucks is that I have to mention it, just to identify them, the thieves seen taking my stuff and the ones I saw casing my car the night it was stolen appeared to be of Southeast Asian descent. I don't like even saying that because I don't want people in Laurelhurst to be even more suspicious of Cambodians and Laotians than they already are (it's a really WASPy neighborhood). For all I know that family are a bunch of perfectly nice people who might have some kids in their family with problems, who might be thieves.
Some photos courtesy of Google Street View;
The house where my helmet was found behind, where the kids seen taking stuff from my car have been seen often at -
Where my car was found -
A map of the area -
04-28-2009, 03:56 PM
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Re: Seattle Car Thieves
Find these friggin' kids and break their friggin' fingers! Excellent detective work man, but seriously. How you didn't pull that stupid hood over that kids face and blindside him is beyond me.
05-01-2009, 10:15 AM
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Re: Seattle Car Thieves
dude get a steering wheel lock, clutch lock, rim lock, and an alarm with kill switches to everything..
these little ******* are starting to **** me off... i swear id bash in their heads with a hammer if i ever caught one of them... jail time wont matter to me..
these little ******* are starting to **** me off... i swear id bash in their heads with a hammer if i ever caught one of them... jail time wont matter to me..
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05-03-2009, 03:40 PM
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Re: Seattle Car Thieves
Man, that was the most informative car stolen, car found posts I've ever seen before! Hope someone finds these douche bags.
05-12-2009, 06:37 PM
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Re: Seattle Car Thieves
Times sure have changed. I grew up about a quarter mile from the place where your car was recovered. That was in the late fifties to early seventies. The thieves would come from the places not unlike Beacon Hill and steal from the somewhat spendy neighborhood of Laurelhurst. I am glad you got your car back and the Pinarello too. Always liked those bikes. Something about the chromed rear triangle is excellent. Like the guy says tho'. Get all kinds of locks and alarms and use them EVERY time you're not in the car. If you use them every time you'll discipline yourself on the breakdown sequence so fast they actually become a great weapon. Don't use your car as a traveling foot locker. You'll save gas money shedding the extra weight. When some bandana havin', fajita eatin', hoodie wearin' Stussies eyeball ya car, instead of going to ya computer to ring up BRAZZERS.COM, quickly produce a disarming glance. Guess what, if they look ghetto.......................THEY ARE GHETTO. For any jackers browsing this thread, don't waste your time lookin' for me, I've already got you sighted in. The Army is a great place to become a Staff Sargent.
05-13-2009, 04:29 PM
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Re: Seattle Car Thieves
WOw.... thats crazy because I live on beacon hill too. In my neighborhood it's actually not too bad. Since my parents and including I sometimes leave our cars idleing outside. Since my civic won't let me lock my door if the keys in the ignition I have to leave it unlocked. I know you can lock it manually but carrying 2 keys can be a hassle. So far so good... pretty quiet neighborhood except for a few little kids running around next door. Good job on finding your car and bike!
05-13-2009, 07:37 PM
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Re: Seattle Car Thieves
WOw.... thats crazy because I live on beacon hill too. In my neighborhood it's actually not too bad. Since my parents and including I sometimes leave our cars idleing outside. Since my civic won't let me lock my door if the keys in the ignition I have to leave it unlocked. I know you can lock it manually but carrying 2 keys can be a hassle.
05-13-2009, 10:17 PM
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Re: Seattle Car Thieves
Gotta love having a driveway 1/4 mile long. I dont think theivs would wanna risk the chance at my place. But you never know. Anyways awesome recovery!
05-14-2009, 07:28 AM
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Re: Seattle Car Thieves
You'd think some of you would get the message. I guess ya gotta' get burned to get wise. Just remember it's those that do dumb things that make it easy for thieves to keep on burning others. If you don't do it for yourself do it for your ppl.
05-19-2009, 09:09 PM
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Re: Seattle Car Thieves
Just got my EK stolen at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, OR last night... I know what you mean about the cops not giving a sh*t. Doesn't seem like it's worth doing anything about it anymore... =/
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