Hit and Run?

A missing person sign Tatyana's friends
and family made. 

 Hit and Run? 

By, Isabell D. 

  

  On May 9th, 22 year old Tatyana Tupikova was planning on meeting up with her friends at a local frozen yogurt shop. It was a peaceful night in Battle Ground Washington, and so she decided to travel on foot. Tatyana never showed up. 


  Her friends and family didn't report her as a missing person until that Thursday. They began creating missing person signs, and making phone calls to everyone they knew and Tatyana knew. But everyone said the same thing. They all had no idea where she was. 


   On the afternoon of Friday May 11th, a passerby reported to the police at 3:00 pm saying that they saw a body in a far off ditch by the road, about 50 feet from the road.  Police investigators rushed to the scene and found the body of Tatyana Tupikova. She was found along the east side of SR-503 near Main Street in the Battle Ground area. Emergency personal removed the body later that night at 6:35 pm.  Police have released information saying that they believe she died from a hit and run. 


   Tatyana's family and friends are crushed, and utterly heartbroken. Right now, all they want is the peace of knowing who did this to Tatyana, a young, bubbly, down to earth woman. Her parents said that Tatyana would help with paying their bills, and anything else they needed help with.  A friend of Tatyana has urged the person responsible to "come forward now instead of prolonging the family's agony." Cathi Baas said "It's so wrong of someone to do this kind of a thing." 

Where Tatyana Tupikova's body was found,
50 feet from the road. 

  Over the internet and in person, people all over the North West are discussing whether or not Tatyana Tupikova's death was really caused by a hit and run accident. Some believe she was dumped in the ditch in which she was found in, and others say that the police aren't releasing all of the information they have.  So far, no new information has been released about the death of this innocent young women.


  If you have any information about Tatyana, or if you saw something strange around 9:00pm on Wednesday May 9th in the Battle Ground area, please call (360)342-5100.