Lone Star Fugitive Task Force find missing teardrop trailer

Mandy Lea's teardrop trailer was missing for more than two days before police found it off of FM 969.

Mandy Lea's camper was something she cared dearly for. She says, “It was so much more to me than just something to get away in it really was a home to me. “

Mandy named her camper "Birdsong" and she had plans to move into it full time in June.

But things didn’t go as planned.  According to Mandy, “When I went outside and I saw it was missing, my heart just sank because I was afraid my dreams might be shattered.”

Lea's camper was missing for two days. Wednesday, the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force got a tip which led them to a remote makeshift campground off FM 969. While Task Force Officers were searching for a fugitive, they happened to run upon the trailer.

According to Hector Gomez with the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force, “The Teardrop trailer, we've come to know it as lately, kicked back that it was wanted, a vehicle reported lost or stolen.”

Lea recalls, “He called me right at midnight and said they found it. I asked him what kind of condition is it in. He said we're not going to open it without you.”

Mandy was not surprised; the trailer had been rummaged through. She says, “It's pretty much beyond repair and it's beyond the point I would even want to live in it or sleep in it again.”

Officers did not find the fugitive they were looking for, but they did something to help a woman who loves her lifestyle.

Gomez says, “We'll take luck, luck like this anytime. This has brought some form of closure to a victim of crime.”

As for the camper, Mandy took "Birdsong" to a repair shop. But she says she plans to buy another camper for her endeavors. Many went on to tell us that, “My time in nature and mountains made me realize this is what makes me happy.”

Although they did not catch their target, the Fugitive Task Force apprehended another fugitive who was on the campground at the time.