Eastside News

Reports of dumped and abandoned RVs could be tied together

Police in Seattle and Bellevue have received separate reports of derelict camping trailers being dumped on city streets and private parking lots, and witnesses have similar descriptions of a truck leaving the trailers behind.

When a man and a woman in a black extended-cab Ford pickup truck started quickly unhooking a 40-year-old fifth-wheel camper trailer on a Bellevue street on Thursday, KIRO-Radio host Frank Shiers spotted it. He recalled KIRO-7 News reports of a pickup truck fitting the same description dumping a battered camping trailer in the parking lot of the Northgate QFC--a trailer which was filled with trash.

The eyesore in Northgate was stripped by looters and deemed to be two risky to tow by several companies, because it was falling apart and missing a wheel. After six days it took an effort of Seattle City councilmember Debora Juarez to coordinate with Lincoln Towing, and several thousand dollars from QFC to have it removed.

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Shires made a connection: "A big black pickup truck, just like Northgate QFC, right?" said Shiers. "A decrepit trailer, mismatched wheels, the whole thing. They very quickly tried to unhook it and get out of there as quickly as possible.''

Shiers said he approached and confronted a man and woman as they were doing it.

"I got out of my car, went over and said 'Hey guys, you can't dump that here, that's not legal,'" Shiers said, adding that the couple tried to explain it.

"They said 'we're just transporting it. we're just transporters and we're meeting a couple of guys.'" Shiers responded: "Ok, that's cool. I'm going to call the police."

So the couple moved the trailer to the parking lot of the Factoria Walmart--where police tried tracing the title. The trailer's registered owners live in Pierce County, and when contacted, they said they sold the trailer years ago, and didn't realize the title hadn't been transferred.

The pickup truck described to Seattle and Bellevue police is a black extended cab Ford with tan doors.

"I want to know who belongs to that big black pickup truck," said Shiers. "And I want to know who gave them money to drop that trailer."