Phantom pooper targets local car dealerships

SCATGATE!!!!

Phantom pooper targets local car dealerships

11:06 AM CDT on Friday, May 1, 2009

(KMOV) — This story will make you extra cautious the next time you drop your car off at a dealership.

A woman tells News 4 her SUV was towed for repairs. When it was returned, she was overwhelmed by a foul stench.

News 4’s Erica Byfield has learned that foul smell is probably human feces.

If you think that’s shocking, just wait. Police say her case is the second in two weeks.

Linda Clay still has to use her SUV to get around. She says it still has a foul odor and there is still visual evidence of the incident. All of this is after the staff a Bommarito Mazda spent the last two days trying to clean up whatever was left behind.

Clay took her car to the dealership last week and since then, she’s been in a never-ending battle to get the Mazda dealer to explain what happened.

Clay finally got her answer when she talked to Ellisville police. They told her someone else reported the same problem after he took his car to Stephen Vincel Honda.

That’s still not the end of the story. Manchester police are also working two possible human feces cases.

These cases happened at West County Volvo, one in 2007 and one in 2008.

For now, Clay is stuck with the stinky car.

The dealership did give her an odor eater, but she’s not sure it’s going to help.

Clay says she can’t stomach the idea of selling the SUV, so she’s going to just trade it in.

Ellisville’s police chief says he’s warned all the dealerships in his area that they need to be on the lookout for whoever is doing this.

St. Louis area police are searching for a phantom pooper