World News – A Washington state family visited their vacation cabin in the woods on Tuesday — only to find their beloved getaway gone.
In the last two weeks, someone managed to pry the 10-by-20-foot structure from its foundation, leaving behind only the cement blocks, the family said Wednesday.
“We walked up to the gate and it had been cut. Drove up to (the cabin) expecting it to maybe be broken windows, maybe a little vandalism, something stolen from the front of it,” Chris Hempel, the owner, told NBC affiliate KHQ in Spokane. “We walked up and it was gone.”
The Hempels had a name for their $7,000 home on 20 acres in Springdale: “Hempel Hideaway.”
But the Hempel matriarch said they were in “total dumbfounded shock” to see the house missing — and contacted the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office to investigate the strange cabin caper.
Whomever swiped the structure knew what they were doing, Hempel added.
“It’s frustrating when you work as hard as you do and get things you enjoy to have,” she said, “and someone comes in and steals it from you.”
By Erik Ortiz, NBCNews.com
