RIDGEFIELD, Wash. (KOIN) — Just days after a Ridgefield woman died in a fire that destroyed their house, her family was also victimized by thieves.
On Wednesday, Aug. 8, a fire erupted at the McPeake’s home on Northeast 41st Avenue. Firefighters said two men and a dog managed to escape the house, but Stefany R. Cutler-Ffitch ran back in to find the other dog.
Both Stefany and her pug died in the blaze.
“Twenty-three years old,” Walt Culter, the grandfather of Stefany, said. “Young. Way too young.”
However, their tragedy didn’t end there.
Brenda McPeake, Stefany’s aunt, said she cared for her niece like a daughter. She told KOIN 6 News that sometime during the night, a thief went through the family’s cars, stripping their sedan and Jeep of their tires and rims as well as items inside.
“It’s bad enough to have somebody steal from you just in everyday life, you know, let alone a tragedy like that happens and then to have somebody come right along behind it and steal what’s left. That’s terrible,” neighbor Dave Garett said.
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office is looking for the person responsible or anyone who may have more information.
Garett is certain that people in Ridgefield will keep a watchful eye out for the thief.
“It’s going to cause a lot more awareness around here now that I know something like that is going on right here in our neighborhood,” he said. “That someone can be the despicable after a tragedy like that. That someone can go in and steal from them.”