When the Plaza Hotel in downtown Victoria went up in flames on May 6, building caretaker Mike Draeger’s 1972 Airstream trailer was towed from the site.
Draeger hasn’t been seen since that day and he wasn’t found in the rubble, so he remains the subject of a missing person investigation.
All-Ways Towing was called by the Victoria Fire Department on the day of the fire to remove the trailer because the building was starting to collapse.
Once on their lot the towing company, following the procedure, sent a letter to the vehicle’s owner but because Draeger is missing, police put the company in touch with Draeger’s family.
“They don’t have the means to come and get it and get it all the way out to Ontario so they just go ahead and do what I needed to do to have it transferred into the company name so that I could sell it so I could at least recoup what was owing on our bill,” said All-Ways Towing Co-Owner Cheryl Parker.
A few weeks ago Parker put the trailer up for auction but nobody showed up. So on Tuesday night she posted it on Used Victoria for $5,000 and had a massive response.
On Wednesday morning, a man showed up with cash and bought it.
Parker says the inside of the trailer looks exactly the same now as it did the day they towed it from the fire.
Victoria police say there is no update on the arson investigation or the missing person investigation.
The City of Victoria says the property owner is still working to get proper approvals from the province and Worksafe BC before it can start the demolition and clean up process at the site on Pandora Avenue.
April Lawrence
