GRANITE FALLS — For more than a year, family and friends left balloons, candles, flowers, messages and some of Shaylynn Wietersen’s personal items at the scene of a car crash where the teenager died.
Her mother, Donna Wietersen, and friends were sad to find many of the items were missing or destroyed on Christmas Eve when they drove by the site on Burn Road.
“We drove by the tree and everything was gone,” said Christy Gerber, a friend of the Wietersen family. “It’s devastating. It was so vibrant and now it’s nothing.”
Shaylynn, a sophomore at Granite Falls High School, was riding to school with her brother, Brian, on Dec. 8, 2009. The Jeep Cherokee that they were in collided with a Toyota 4Runner on a stretch of the road northwest of Granite Falls. Shaylynn, 16, died later that day from injuries she suffered in the accident.
Shaylynn’s brother and a friend drove by the site of the car accident about 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 24. He drove by again at about 10:30 p.m. with his mother, Gerber and her daughter, Desi. The site was shockingly different than earlier in the day, Gerber said.
“It looked like things were ripped off and cut with knives,” she said. “We stopped and there were tears.”
The Gerber and Wietersen families became neighbors in 2006. Donna Wietersen moved to New Mexico after the accident but Gerber said she visits the crash site weekly to maintain the area. She sends larger mementos such as picture frames to Wietersen.
Items including posters, flowerpots, guitar picks, pins, a windchime and several pink plastic flamingos were taken from a tree, fence and surrounding area. A handmade cross was left on the tree.
“For someone to go and do that, it’s just not right,” Wietersen said. “It felt like I lost Shaylynn all over again.”
Gerber called the Granite Falls Police Department to report the theft. The emotional cost is great, she said.
“Her mom put a lot of Shaylynn’s things there,” Gerber said. “You can’t put a price on some of those things.”
Her family and Wietersen started adding new items to the site, Gerber said. She hopes someone will decide to give the old items back.
“It would be great return,” she said.
Wietersen asked the Rev. Jim Romack to contact her if anything that was taken is returned.
Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491; adaybert@heraldnet.com.
To help
Anyone with information about the theft can contact Romack at Fathers House Foursquare Church at 360-691-5290.
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