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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Stolen moving trailer recovered

A moving trailer stolen from a military family overnight has been found ransacked and abandoned at a Spokane Valley apartment complex. A resident at the Valley 206 apartment on North Wilbur Road saw news coverage of the theft and remembered seeing the trailer earlier today. Police found the trailer rented by Dewey and Sharon Brown in the apartment complex parking lot about 4 p.m. with its most valuable contents missing such as jewelery, firearms and a laptop computer. The family was headed over to check it out. The Browns were due at the McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma today but are staying in town in hopes of finding their pickup and the rented U-Haul trailer missing this morning from La Quinta Suites, 3800 N. Sullivan Road. Dewey Brown is to fly to Korea soon for a year-long Air Force assignment. The family was driving from North Dakota to Western Washington and stayed at the hotel Sunday night. In the trailer were clothes, toys, photo albums, checks, family quilts, medical records, Christmas gifts and $50,000 in jewelry. Also gone are Dewey Brown’s military uniforms and paperwork, including his transfer papers, and his daughter’s beloved doll. Crime Stoppers is offering a $500 reward for information that leads to an arrest. The pickup is a blue 1995 Dodge with Alaska license plates, oversize tires and a chrome strip along the lower sides. The single-axle, 5-by-8 trailer has Florida license plates with a Tucson, Arizona graphic on the sides.