What started as a call about a suspicious vehicle on San Antonio’s west side turned into something considerably more interesting by mid-morning. Officers responding to a business complaint near Merida and South Navidad found themselves chasing teenagers across railroad tracks instead of writing a report. That’s never a great sign for the teens involved, but for investigators, it turned out to be a productive Tuesday.
When the dust settled and the K9 units had done their sweep, police had located a vacant lot concealed behind dense brush that was quietly housing three stolen vehicles: two Kias and a Hyundai. The property had apparently been functioning as an informal stash site, the kind of setup that tends to indicate someone has been doing this more than once. One of the car owners made the discovery personal by showing up at the scene herself, having reported her vehicle stolen from just a few miles away less than an hour earlier.
One suspect was taken into custody. Two others made it across the tracks and disappeared, which means detectives are now working with fingerprints, physical evidence, and whatever else the scene gave them to figure out who else was involved. More pressingly, they’re trying to determine whether this was a one-off or part of a broader theft operation with more participants and more vehicles to account for…