Car theft, burglary impacts north end of island

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, January 5, 2022

The north end of Vashon has been subject to a recent uptick in criminal activity, with burglary and car theft occurring during the early morning hours of Wednesday, Dec. 29.

Nancy Wolff awoke the morning of Dec. 29 to find that an intruder had broken through the French doors of her home, located on Palisades Ave. SW. Once inside the house, the intruder had stolen Christmas gifts including gift cards, a watch she had given her husband, and her purse which contained her car keys to her 2019 red Honda CRV.

Outside the home, Wolff saw that her CRV was gone, and that her husband’s vehicle had been broken into and ransacked, but was still there. In speaking with her neighbors, Wolff estimated that whoever entered the home and stole the car and other items had done so around 3 a.m., as other neighbors reported hearing activity around that time. In addition, boot prints that were seen around her home matched boot prints seen around cars in the north end parking lot on social media, said Wolff.

The theft and burglary was reported to the King County Sheriff’s Department, and there was a sighting of the CRV on Maury Island the morning of Dec. 30. However, the vehicle has yet to be recovered and is classified as stolen.

Wolff has been able to recover some items that were stolen during the burglary. On Friday, Jan. 1, Wolff was contacted by a Good Samaritan who had found her ID wallet behind a Planet Fitness gym in Federal Way. On the same day, Wolff was contacted again by a Planet Fitness employee at the same Federal Way location, who had found her purse and several other items dumped behind the building.