Sorry for taking so long to get back on. Yesterday was kinda crazy making and taking lots of calls trying to make sure all the word got out there. Still lots of work to do. Don't want someone calling me in when I am seen driving it around, haha.
So, the story is that the Parker Police found it sitting right at the corner of Delbert and County Line Road. It's unclear how long it has been sitting there but my guess is hours and not days. They must have waited till it was dark and trailered it in and left it (based on tire tracks in the dirt). All around is wide open fields so it would stick out like a sore thumb in daylight. I don't go that way enough to know how much traffic goes through but it is just down the road from a new housing development. So around 12.30 AM I got the call and rushed right over. The person on the phone said how glad they were that they found it, that they missed seeing it at Wal Mart.
It reeked of bleach and was still soaking wet with it. It was just a miracle how well preserved it was over all, though. There were bird droppings and leaves all over the inside so it must have been sitting on (my guess) a larger piece of property outside under or near trees. That may be why no one saw it this whole time. From the odometer, best I can figure they only put about 5-10 miles on it. That may have been from pushing it around OR they may actually have figured how to start it. Don't know. I think all the heat I put out on them is the reason why there are hardly any miles on them. I calculate my gas based on the odometer reading since my gauge is broken and I just filled it up the day before it was taken that's how I can guesstimate the amount. The police asked me if I wanted them to process it or take it. They said they are unsure of how long it was sitting there and there could be many different prints plus the bleach doesn't help much. I made the decision to take it. So, there isn't much to go on as far as catching them unless I go through getting the video cleaned up but at the moment my priority is fixing the jeep. I'm just glad to have it back.
They smashed in the passenger side of the grill and damaged the c-channels on the tandem tow. Plus rubbed a lot of paint off from chains put around it. BUT, try as they might, they couldn't break the lock I had on the tandem. They smashed in the bottom edge of the bottom near the muffler. They tool box lids were bent back to see what was inside. They only got on lid open, they other they bent it up on three sides but still didn't get it open. They broke the lock on the rear seat storage box. The ignition switch is gone and they ripped out the wiring for my defroster switch. The spare tire bracket is smashed pretty good from pushing the jeep. At this point, most of the bleach is cleaned up and everything to be straightened is off and ready to be worked on.
As far as future security, I am getting 2 boots, one for the front and one for the back. They will be easy enough to carry around and can transfer to different vehicles I may drive. I will probably work on a chain system for the brake, shifter, and steering wheel. There will be other measures I will take as well. Here are the pictures
spare bracket
box lids and rear seat storage lock
bird droppings, at this point I had removed almost all of the leaves