Stolen under mounted full size spare tire- how?
 

So I come home from a trip on Friday, park my car and notice that my wife's 1999 4x4 Blazer LS has only the cable and mounting collar (?) at the end of it dangling straight down where the full size spare tire should be.

After the required questioning of the aforementioned wife, who of course claims ignorance and innocence, I traced the usual routes she travels and of course don't find it.

My question....is this a common occurence? I am dumbfounded in trying to figure out just how this could happen for the following reasons:

1.) I inspected the cable and the aforementioned collar. The collar is of course covered with some surface rust, but it is whole, unbroken from what I can tell in that there are no cracks, pieces missing, etc.,...

2.) In questioning the wife, I ask her if she ever heard anything bumping / shaking the SUV. She claims adamantly that no such thing ever happened during the few days I was gone.

3.) In order to take that spare off, one needs to access the crank in the inside rear panel of the back deck that is used to lower the undermounted full size spare. Even then, it's still difficult to remove after cranking / lowering the cable.

My questions:

1.) Are these full size spare tires common theft targets?

2.) Are these full size spares known to just 'fall off'?

3.) How in the world could this have happened- either falling off without her noticing it or someone being able to access the cable to lower the spare when they didn't have access to the interior of the car?

I'm just scratching my head over this, doubting my wife, but she is normally very attuned / hyper-sensitive to any non-regular noises. :icon_shrug:

Any help / input is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Boiler20 in Indiana

On mine, you can lower it without getting into the trunk.

I'm fairly certain if the cable was loose enough to lose the tire, it would cause alot of damage on the way out from under the truck.

Edit: WTF? I posted this reply AFTER gio's post below. How did I read his post then reply, only to have the site force me to have a double post?

someone was hungry for a spare

these trucks have the hole in the bumper to put the flat head key to drop the tire

I doubt it loosen its self then she lost it

when my dad lost his spare on his 97 the cable snapped

Anyone with the tool can lower your spare tire, it's just a quick $20 for a thief.:icon_no: It's sad people steal like that. She would've felt it if the tire just "fell" off for sure.

yeah was dating a girl who had her tailgate stolen and her spare tire stolen, not sure if it was done at the same time. but yeah. steal 4 fullsized spares, you got a new set of tires.

lol wow...i dont mean to laugh but this is the craziest thing ive seen stolen in a while. a spare? how desperate can people be nowadays? I remember once back in highschool me and some friends was at walmart and we came out and his hood was stolen.

lol i know right

its like a pit crew you turn 10 mins and somethings missing

Yeah spares are just like older tailgates they are easy to take that's why people go for them. Around here people take battery powered sawzalls and steal catalytic converters.

thanks to all who replied....
 

...turns out it does have the rear bumper access point to turn/crank the spare down on the '99 Blazer.

It still infuriates me that someone had the gall to steal this spare, when the vehicle is parked every nite in our circular driveway, literally 15 feet from our front door.

Some watch dog I have.

Is there any way to block access or lock this spare?

Thanks!