This article was updated on April 18 at 10:24 a.m.
The suspicious car fire along Lavender Lane during the early morning hours this month is now being investigated as as a stolen car by the NYPD, bringing the department back to Rye for the second time in less than a month.
The SUV, a 2014 Dodge Durango, was stolen in the Bronx on April 6, the same night it was left stranded in Rye, according to police. The owner of the vehicle has no ties to Rye, police said. It remains unclear why the Durango was abandoned on Lavender Lane near Midland Avenue.
Area residents reported to local police that the car was engulfed in flames shortly before 5 a.m. on April 6.
The investigation is a joint operation between the NYPD and Rye police. The NYPD is probing the car theft, while Rye is handling why the vehicle was abandoned and whether it was arson.
Surprisingly, the NYPD was just in Rye last month when they arrested Central Avenue resident Jose Garcia, 51, for allegedly running a high-powered fentanyl and heroin ring in New York City that was a part of three interconnected rings that sold drugs across the Big Apple and Westchester County.
Garcia’s arrest in his Rye home during an early morning raid by the NYPD concluded more than a year-long investigation launched by the NYPD in February 2024, targeting the proliferation of drugs within the Marcus Garvey Apartments in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn.
The drugs that Garcia allegedly distributed have been linked to at least two overdoses, according to authorities.
Westchester County police assisted in the undercover operation.
Garcia faces prison time on multiple charges, including up to a life sentence. His court date was adjourned to April 29 in Manhattan.
