So, about 2 months ago a car was parked in our parking lot with its lights still on. A BMW X3 to be exact. Red Bull and iPod still present.

We figured maybe our neighbors in the apartment complex had figured out that our landlord doesn’t pay the closest attention to the parking lot and decided to abuse the system. Only one thing: the car didn’t move. For several weeks, it didn’t move.

After about a month, Charlie and Brian (bless his heart, he was still with us at the time) started to think maybe the car was stolen and dropped off. A possibility I had never thought of, but when they said it, it sure made sense. We had already told our landlord the car was parked there and no one in any of the houses was the owner.

I decided to call Minneapolis 311 – the non-emergency line – and it was the weekend, so I left a detailed phone message with the license plate number and description of the car. I called back a few days later on a weekday and talked with someone. They told me that the only thing to do was the call the tow company and they would run the car and that was the only way to find out.

Well, our landlord wrote a note and put it under the wiper blade saying that if the car wasn’t moved, they would have it towed. They left another note. And today, there was a police officer sitting outside our house, and a tow-truck pulling the car away.

Charlie and I went to the back and we talked with the police officer. He asked how long the car had been parked there, and I said about two months. I told him him everything I just wrote above, and he said in fact, the car had been stolen 2 months back.

Mystery solved. I have to admit, my motives for calling were not entirely pure. I had hoped that if someone owned a BMW X3, a reward might be involved in helping find the car. As it is so far, that will not be the case, but there will be a very happy car-owner with his stolen car found.

Quite a story. All in our backyard.