SEDRO-WOOLLEY — Everyone’s stumped.

“Nobody saw anything,” said Police Chief Doug Wood. “We don’t have any witnesses. We don’t have anything.”

The mystery of a missing 8-foot, 700-pound cedar log has Sedro-Woolley and the Loggerodeo supporters in a flurry. It disappeared sometime Sunday night or Monday morning. But the thieves should not be unafraid. There may be visual evidence of their misdeeds.

Organizers of the annual carving contest scrambled for a substitute cedar log to ensure each of the 13 chain saw artists awaiting the carving battle this week had their wooden canvas at the start.

JB Bryson, the contest’s organizer, said at the scene of the crime Wednesday amidst the remaining logs in downtown Sedro-Woolley, he thinks the thieves sawed the missing one in three pieces for the getaway.

Even a small tractor couldn’t lift the full log, he said.

Bryson said whoever did this knows logs. Just starting a chain saw big enough to cut the log is a feat for a professional.

If any sawdust was created during the theft, by the time Loggerodeo officials discovered the log was missing, it had blown away, he said.

Intact, the cedar log is valued at more than $500, Bryson said. But chopped up, it’s nearly worthless.

“That’s what makes no sense,” Bryson said. “It’s a lot of work and taking a lot of chance for no good reason.”

Some of the carvers gearing up for the competition said they couldn’t believe someone would commit such a crime.

“Why would someone come up and steal a log,” said Tennessee carver Nick Bero.

“Someone’s hopefully got a slipped disk,” said Bruce Thorsteinson, a Kent carver who goes by “Thor.”

Bero’s father, Fred Bero, also a carver, chimed in too.

“They might want to check the emergency room for someone with a hernia,” he said.

Chief Wood says his department has no leads.

“It’s just kind of a mystery — who did it and why they would do it,” Wood said.

But a businessman across the street from the crime scene says he has surveillance tape that could reveal the thieves.

“The crime you’ve committed — you’re busted,” said John Diamond, owner of the Diamond Plaza.

Diamond said he still needs to watch hours of tape to find any suspicious movement near his building that night.

California carver Mark Colp said he too thinks the thieves will be caught.

“Someone’s going to know that you have a big log somewhere,” Colp said.

He hopes the thieves just bring it back.

In the meantime, Bryson scoured the county for a substitute log. Luckily, he found two lower-quality logs that will have to do.

Bryson said earlier in the week several other logs were vandalized — cut in the middle of the day. Others reported wood carvings in front of businesses being disfigured.
In his 14 years of organizing the carvings, Bryson said he’s never had a theft.

“It’s a shame,” said Thomas Cook, a lifelong Sedro-Woolley resident and a downtown business owner.

“It goes against everything Sedro-Woolley,” said Mike Janicki, president of Janicki Logging.

Bryson said if he could give the thieves a message, it would be this:
“Don’t get caught by the locals.”

• Tahlia Ganser can be reached at 360-416-2148 or at . Ruth Richardson also contributed to this report.