Unbelievable moment frustrated cops spring inmate from county jail to help hotwire RV he is accused of stealing after owner couldn't get it to start: 'I know a guy who definitely knows how to do this'

A victim's delight at being reunited with her stolen RV turned to shock when cops fished its thief out of the local jail to show them how to start it.

Olive Teague, 26, was devastated when her 1996 Ford F350 RV was stolen from a Seattle street in December, along with all the equipment for the mermaid school she runs.

Nearly four months later she was invited to pick it up from the Aberdeen police department after officers arrested the man they suspected of stealing it.

But with the ignition long since punched out, officers had to draw on some deeply unofficial expertise to get the battered vehicle back on the road, returning with the tattooed suspect in an orange jumpsuit.

'I have to tell you, my coping skills in that moment were not up to par with dealing with THAT situation,' Olive said.

Nearly four month's later it was recovered by police in Aberdeen and Olive filmed from the back as cops drafted in the suspected thief himself to help restart the engine 

Olive Teague, 26, had invested her life savings in the 1996 Ford RV which doubled as her home when it was stolen after just two weeks from a street in Seattle 

Drugs, guns, stolen jewelry, bike parts, hunting weapons, and even a raccoon trap were recovered from the badly damaged vehicle after squatters spent the winter inside 

Olive had invested her life savings in the RV which doubled as her home and storage for the costumes and free-diving equipment for her business, The Seattle Mermaid School.

She had only had the vehicle for two weeks before it was lifted on December 19, and friends began a GoFundMe appeal to help her out.

Three months later she arrived in Aberdeen with a friend to discover that squatters had lived in it for the winter, traveling more than 1,300 miles and causing extensive damage.

But a routine recovery attracted more than 12 million views on TikTok after Olive whipped out her phone to record its unusual turn.

As she surveyed the debris in the back of the vehicle, her friend and a police officer wrestled with the ignition in a bid to start the engine.

'Eventually, I overheard the officer say "You know what? I don't want us to do more damage to the ignition by messing with it",' she updated supporters on her appeal page.

'I know a guy back at the station who definitely knows how to do this'. And so he left.

'I thought nothing of this during my deep clean of the bedroom section. He's going to get another officer... right?

'That's what I assumed until I turned around to find not another policeman teaching my friend how to jump the ignition, but the actual man who stole my vehicle.'

Olive invested her life savings in the RV which doubled as her home and storage for her business

Olive's RV was taken with all her equipment for the mermaid school she runs

'The responding officer went to the county jail and got the literal man who they booked for selling my rig and took him on a little field trip out to teach us how to start my RV.'

The TikTok shows the suspected felon patiently teaching her friend how to coax the engine to life, while throwing to occasional furtive glance at Olive filming from the back.

Job done, the suspect was returned to jail and Olive was able to begin returning the RV to habitability.

'During the cleaning process we discovered drugs, guns, stolen jewelry, bike parts, hunting weapons, a raccoon trap, and so many more unmentionables,' she wrote.

'There is fire damage to the inside of the RV. The walls, my brand new mattress, and the carpets have deep burn marks on them. About an hour and a half into the clearing project, I found an entire cat.

'I am on day six of wet-vacuuming my carpets out and the water is still coming up black, but the smell is receding, and my carpets are blue again.

'I have a lot of hard manual labor in front of me to continue to reclaim my space, but that's where I have been the last week.

'And I can't tell you how much ease my heart has compared to when my RV was gone. I'd rather have my rig, cursed or not.'

Commenters on TikTok were full of praise for the resourceful cops, and impressed at the suspect's detailed tutorial.

'It probably actually felt really good for him to be helpful and share some niche knowledge,' wrote one.

'The fact that you both looked at each other and smiled when it turned on,' added another.

During the cleaning process, Olive discovered drugs, guns, stolen jewelry, bike parts, hunting weapons - and a cat 

Olive described the experience as 'surreal, to say the least'.

'There was a potentially dangerous, indicted criminal waving a screwdriver inches from my friend's face,' she wrote.

'And he was so supportive about the teaching process??

'All I could think to do at that moment was film it for prosperity. And, you know, in case we needed the evidence.'