Just one day after her story was told in the Western News, a Penticton woman was reunited with her stolen vehicle.
Wendy Tapping asked the newspaper to help her make an appeal for the return of her 1994 GMC Tracker, which she calls her “wheelchair,” since her mobility is challenged by painful back ailments.
The pink SUV, in which she accidentally left the keys, was taken from her driveway at White Water Mobile Home Park early on May 7.
Her story ran in the newspaper on May 16, and later that night Tapping received a call from a female reader in Summerland, who had seen the Tracker on an agricultural property off Brent Road near Peachland.
“She said she noticed (the vehicle) before the story and just said, ‘That’s odd, there’s a pink car in the bush,’” Tapping related. “And then when she saw the story, she put two and two together and phoned me about it.”
Tappings’ roommate went out Saturday to recover the vehicle, which she said was visible from Highway 97. It was stuck between a rock and a deer fence, and had a washing machine loaded into the back.
The Tracker also had an empty fuel tank and dead battery, plus “a few extra dents and scrapes and scars,” Tapping said, “but it’s running OK.”
Her keys were found in the ignition.
Penticton RCMP spokesman Sgt. Rick Dellebuur confirmed the vehicle was recovered, but said police haven’t made any arrests.