Royse City dance studio's stolen trailer found abandoned on highway
ROYSE CITY, Texas - A trailer belonging to a Royse City dance studio has been returned just days after it was stolen.
The trailer contained props and set for Dance & Arts Connection that were going to be used for a national dance competition.
On Monday, the studio received good news. The son of the owner of a business next door found the stolen trailer.
While the Rockwall County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate who stole the trailer, the students and staff are ecstatic to have it back.
The last week for the Dance & Arts Connection has been rough.
Days before the group was set to take the stage for a national competition, their trailer filled with all the props and sets for their routines was stolen.
"I didn’t realize how much props meant to our dancers until it’s taken away from them," said Vicky Staton, the studio’s owner.
Surveillance video from a neighboring business shows the crime last Wednesday night. A black pickup truck drives behind the studio building and leaves with the trailer in tow.
As they say in showbiz, the show must go on.
On Father's Day, dancers, their families and neighbors rebuilt and painted the lost pieces.
"It was great," Staton said. "We just all came together, and nobody missed a beat."
Then Monday night, Staton got the call she’d been waiting for: the trailer had been found.
"And I was actually rehearsing and the girls go screaming," she said. "They’re like, ‘Our trailer!’"
It was found almost two hours away off I-20 in Van Zandt County. But the person who spotted it is much closer to home.
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Tiffany Hinojosa owns iTekk Communications next door to the studio. It was her son who found the trailer on his way home from working in Tyler.
"So this is Monday about 6:37 on his way back home. He sends me a picture of the trailer on the side of the highway," she recalled. "And he’s like, ‘Guess what I just found?’ And I was like, ‘What?’ He’s like, ‘You don’t see it?!’ And when I looked at it, I noticed that’s the trailer."
Hinojosa’s 19-year-old son called 911.
Van Zandt County sheriff’s deputies ran the VIN number, and it was a match for the studio’s trailer.
"I’m happy for them. I’m happy for him. So we’re all happy that it worked out," Hinojosa said.
With that behind them, it's all eyes on the prize.
"I think they want to prove something even more than they normally do," Staton said "So I think that it’s gonna be a big deal."
The Rockwall County sheriff says it is investigating someone in connection to the crime but would not elaborate any further.