Neighbor turns mail theft into chance to return memories
KIRKLAND, Wash. -- When you put a stamp on a letter to your godson and drop it off in the ubiquitous blue box, you expect it to arrive.
You certainly do not expect it to end up with melting frost ruining your note and rumpling the pages.
JonErik Johnson discovered what he said were hundreds of letters in the streets and back alleys of his central Kirkland home near I-405.
"Indiscriminately just strewn all over the place. Everything was shredded," he said.
Johnson's wife found the mailboxes had all been left open and piles of mail were everywhere.
Kirkland Police dropped off some recovered letters, but Johnson and his son, Aaron, started searching the areas closer to the highway and found even more torn letters.
"Little slots and envelopes with notes from grandma and grandpa," he said.
Gift cards and cash were lifted from the letters. Johnson gathered what he could find and tried to match the runny signatures with addresses.
Eventually he delivered some of the tattered mail, hoping the Christmas spirit could spread.
"Maybe they'll step up and do something for someone that they don't know," he said.
Kirkland Police say this mail theft wasn't that much different than many others this time of the year. Johnson, though, says no holiday note should be dismissed.
"What they have in them means a lot more to some people than you would imagine," he said.
You certainly do not expect it to end up with melting frost ruining your note and rumpling the pages.
JonErik Johnson discovered what he said were hundreds of letters in the streets and back alleys of his central Kirkland home near I-405.
"Indiscriminately just strewn all over the place. Everything was shredded," he said.
Johnson's wife found the mailboxes had all been left open and piles of mail were everywhere.
Kirkland Police dropped off some recovered letters, but Johnson and his son, Aaron, started searching the areas closer to the highway and found even more torn letters.
"Little slots and envelopes with notes from grandma and grandpa," he said.
Gift cards and cash were lifted from the letters. Johnson gathered what he could find and tried to match the runny signatures with addresses.
Eventually he delivered some of the tattered mail, hoping the Christmas spirit could spread.
"Maybe they'll step up and do something for someone that they don't know," he said.
Kirkland Police say this mail theft wasn't that much different than many others this time of the year. Johnson, though, says no holiday note should be dismissed.
"What they have in them means a lot more to some people than you would imagine," he said.
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