Tacoma couple’s honeymoon in Seattle marred when car is broken into, set on fire

A Tacoma woman says someone broke into her car, and later torched it while she was visiting Seattle for a honeymoon trip.

Rachel Cartledge and her husband got married a few weeks ago, and they decided to take a mini-honeymoon trip to Seattle for a concert.

She and her husband got a room at a hotel in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle.

On Sunday, the newlyweds planned to explore the city all day, however, when they saw the state of their car, their plans changed fast.

“My husband says ‘somebody broke into your car,’ and I thought ‘he’s kidding,'” said Cartledge.

Cartledge said she could see the glass shattered around her parked car, which they left overnight along the 100 block of Vine Street.

However, as she got closer, she realized the situation was much worse.

“It wasn’t just broken into, like glass on the floor. It looked like there had been a fire. Like, ‘oh my gosh, my car caught on fire,'” she said.

FOX 13 News got video from a neighbor that shows the car in flames.

Cartledge said she found two Seattle Police business cards left on her car, for two different incidents.

She says she got an officer on the phone who explained the situation.

“He said that a gentleman had broken into my car, I believe he said around midnight, 12:30, something like that. Had broken the window, and had broken in. So, he said police responded, the suspect was identified and then they left. And then closer to 3, 3:30 in the morning, the suspect returned to my car. I can’t remember if the officer said, set it on fire, but basically blew up my car,” said Cartledge.

She said she and her husband had to get a ride from Seattle back down to Tacoma.

Cartledge says she has been dealing with the issue all week– looking for answers from police and her insurance company, as well as towing the car, and buying a new one so she can get to work.

Cartledge says the cost is already in the thousands of dollars.

“It’s just hoop, after hoop, after hoop and it’s just incredibly frustrating,” she said.

FOX 13 News reached out to the Seattle Police Department over the last two days, for more information regarding this incident.

We called, emailed, tweeted, and even went to the headquarters in-person.

However, no one responded to any of our information requests. A voice message on the SPD on-call media line says, “Due to low staffing levels, and unanticipated medical leave, there will be no on-call PIO (public information officer) available until Aug. 29.”

Officials with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s office told FOX 13 News that no cases regarding this incident have been sent to their office.