A sheriff’s deputy was driving about 12 miles south of Seattle when he noticed something odd: muddy tracks leaving the road and disappearing up a wooded hillside. He didn’t ignore them. Thanks to that instinct, six car owners are now getting their rides back.

Sgt. James Ryan with the King County Sheriff’s Office said of the deputy, “When he saw that, bells went off in his head and he said, ‘I should go back and investigate that.’”

The police officer turned his cruiser around. In the woods, he found an illegal encampment that appeared empty or abandoned. But that wasn’t all.

The deputy found stolen vehicles up the hillside

“When he went back and walked up that muddy hillside, he noticed there were eight vehicles stashed back there… We have no idea how long they’ve been out there.”

Within days, officials confirmed six of those vehicles were stolen and returned them to their rightful owners. The department is still investigating the final two.

“That’s kind of the beauty of southeast King County — you have all these wooded areas. Unfortunately, people use it for nefarious reasons, and they end up stashing stolen property back up in the woods.” You can see the latest coverage of these recovered stolen vehicles in the video embedded below: