Jewelry found outside a Vancouver child care center had ties to a string of burglaries in northern Washington, officials said.
Marysville police want to talk to Tyler Austin Chase, 31, and Corey James Arendt, 20, of Snohomish County. Police believe the two researched obituaries and burglarized homes when people left to go to funerals, said Lt. Darin Rasmussen of the Marysville Police Department.
“That makes it doubly despicable. They (the victims) are already traumatized. They’re already in grief,” Rasmussen said. “These guys are making it worse by going in taking their stuff.”
Vancouver police on Tuesday discovered two plastic bins full of jewelry that were tied to the case, officials said.
Antonio Buckley, a physical education teacher at Kidspace Child Enrichment Center on Northeast 94th Avenue, found the bins just inside the school gate before work Tuesday.
When he realized they were full of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry, he called his boss, who called 911.
Vancouver Officer Taylor Smarr responded and found information that connected the items to the Marysville case. Smarr contacted Marysville police, who sent a detective to recover the items.
All the items recovered in Vancouver were identified as belonging to victims in Marysville, Rasmussen said.
Police don’t think the suspects have any ties to the Vancouver area, but think they were here as recently as Wednesday. They were last seen driving a black, rental 2011 Chevrolet Impala with Oregon license plate 376ETA and are considered to be armed and dangerous.
“We really appreciate the heads-up and cooperation from Vancouver police and the Portland Police Bureau,” Rasmussen said. “It really is a joint effort of law enforcement in general.”
If anyone spots the suspects, they are asked to call 911.
