Miss Washington’s crown, sash, cash stolen

Someone stole Miss Washington’s crown, sash and other items from her car that was parked outside her Edgewood home, packed for an early morning appearance in Everett.

The police, with the help of a GPS location service, were able to locate the vehicle within a few hours, but everything inside was gone.

“I am devastated that priceless items were taken including my Miss Washington crown and sashes, several gowns, several pairs of shoes, and my purse, checkbook, and debit and credit cards,” says Brittney Henry, who competed in the Miss America pageant earlier this year. They even took her glasses.

She says thieves have been using her debit and credit cards at several stores around Federal Way, Puyallup and Tacoma.

“I would be extremely grateful if you could help me by keeping your eyes open for any of these items to appear on Craigslist or Ebay, particularly my crown and sash which are obviously one of a kind. They say Miss Washington 2011 on them,” Henry says.

The crown and sash will cost at least $500 to replace.

Henry tells me physically she’s doing “fine” but is “really sad and really disappointed.”

“It’s scary because it was stolen out of my drive way. so whoever did this knows who I am and has all of my personal information,” she says.

I talked with Henry earlier this month about everything from pageants and poverty to gay marriage. She’s an amazing young woman.

She’s a Puyallup High School grad who is used to struggles. In class she was quiet and never spoke up for herself, even when her friends in class discussed the “leeches on the welfare system,” not knowing Henry was “only able to survive” because of food stamps.

That wasn’t all she was hiding. She was failing classes too. She took algebra three times.

“In one instance I failed because there was a domestic violence issue happening in my house the night before the final,” says Henry. “I held my baby sister in the closet while we called 9-1-1. I didn’t sleep at all that night, I showed up to school the next day, tried to act normal, and failed the test.”

Pageants gave Henry the poise and confidence to speak up for herself and set goals.

By Linda Thomas

Photo, winning the Miss Washington crown in the summer of 2011, courtesy Brittney Henry