A second Milwaukee victim is coming forward after watching a TMJ4 investigation into a couple whose car was stolen and crushed at a scrapyard before police could even begin investigating.
Skeets Stevens says the same thing happened to him.
"Right away, I called the city, I called the police department, and I said, ' Hey, did the city tow my car?" Stevens said. "They said no, then I said I have to report it as stolen."
Stevens says he would not have thought to look at the scrapyard on Green Bay Avenue had it not been for Teon and Gina Hughlett sharing their story in TMJ4's earlier report.
"It wasn't even there for 24 hours before they took it," Gina Hughlett said.
"It was totalled, squashed, windows gone," Teon said.
Stevens went to the scrapyard on Monday and learned what he feared.
"They looked around and all of a sudden they determined, well, yeah, we had your car processed on the 22nd of April," Stevens said.
Milwaukee police confirm they are actively investigating the case as an auto theft.
Watch: 2nd victim comes forward after TMJ4 investigation into stolen cars being scrapped
Stevens did his own investigation and learned that his silver Subaru had been destroyed.
"These scrapyards are required to do a background check to see if it has been reported stolen before they accept it," TMJ4 Investigative Reporter Ben Jordan said. "They did, and at the time, it wasn't in the system yet, but just by a day and a half," Stevens replied.
Stevens says the scrapyard told him a tow truck driver brought the vehicle with a bill of sale and an ID — the two requirements to sell a car to a scrapyard, according to Milwaukee police.
"They can't just accept a bogus bill of sale that somebody can make up, and if you show your ID," Stevens said.
While TMJ4 was outside the scrapyard, a man approached Stevens and identified himself as the tow truck driver.
"I bought the car from a lady," Michael Ward said.
Ward says the scrapyard called him to the lot so he could speak with the police. He agreed to an on-camera interview.
"There was a lady in the house who came outside, and she asked me if I buy junk cars because it said on my tow truck," Ward said. "So I bought the car, I bought the vehicle, and she didn't have no title or none of that."
Ward believes the woman who sold him the car should be held accountable.
When asked how he could prove the car belonged to the woman if she had no keys, no title, no registration and simply claimed it was hers, Ward acknowledged the difficulty.
"That's the hard part. You can't prove it. The only way you prove it is if something like this happens," Ward said.
Stevens says the situation — and what happened to Teon and Gina — weighs on him.
"It just hurts inside," Stevens said.
He is now questioning how many other stolen cars may be at the same scrapyard.
TMJ4 reached out to the scrapyard owner to request an interview, but we have not received a response. The owner declined an interview on Monday but insisted the scrapyard followed proper procedures.
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