Vandals Cause Dream Home Nightmare

A reward is being offered to catch the vandals who caused a whopping amount of damage to a Wagoner County family's dream home.  News On 6 anchor Craig Day reports a family's dreams were dashed just two weeks before they moved into their dream home.

For 30 years, Jill Van Tuyl and her husband, Steve, had thought about building their dream home.  Then, just days before they moved in, it's turned into a bad dream.

"It makes your stomach just sink to think of the bad people that are in this world," said Jill Van Tuyl.

Sometime late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning, vandals broke in and spray painted all over the 4,100 square foot log home.  The walls, the wooden doors, log railings, unique carvings, everywhere.  The couple has done much of the hard work themselves since starting construction a year ago.

"It just makes it that much more disgusting," said Jill Van Tuyl.

Damage is estimated at $50,000.

The vandals didn't just stop with spray paint.  When the vandalism was discovered, there were four to five inches of water over the entire house because the vandals had come in and opened up all of the faucets and opened up all the valves on the water pipes.  Both downstairs and upstairs.

The water buckled the Australian cypress floor, ruined insulation, damaged wiring and soaked sheetrock.

Farm Bureau, the Wagoner County Cattleman's Association and private donors are offering $7,000 in reward money to information leading to the arrest and conviction of the vandals.

Until the vandals are caught, the family has a huge cleanup job ahead of them and, for now, their dream is on hold.

"We finally got it almost ready and somebody yanked the carpet out from underneath us," said Jill Van Tuyl.

Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is urged to call the Wagoner County Sheriff's Office at 918-485-3124.