Eric Wilkinson

Laynee Westbrook disappeared September 10, 2020, under suspicious circumstances. Her family is offering a reward for information leading to her location. ANACORTES, Wash. — Five agonizing years have passed since Laynee Westbrook went missing from Anacortes, and her family and friends are still searching for answers as hope continues to fade. Posters with Westbrook's picture can still be seen around Anacortes, but the trail to find her or the person responsible for her disappearance has gone cold. Westbrook, who would be 46 now, was someone who was always there for her friends and family. She was a staple at graduations, weddings and other important moments.  "I mean that was just kind of her presence: Here I am! The party can begin," said Michelle Hansen, who considered Laynee her best friend since sophomore year in high school.  Now her loved ones are coming to grips with the possibility that she might be gone forever. "It's not fair that someone took her from us," said Hansen. "They felt like they could just take her away. It's not right." Westbrook disappeared Sept. 10, 2020, after going to hang out with a male friend. She left the San Juan Motel in Anacortes around 6:30 p.m. Surveillance video caught her at a gas station near the Swinomish Casino at 7:15 p.m. Her family believes Westbrook then went to the Thousand Trails Campground in La Conner with the same man, where witnesses reported hearing a fight between a man and woman. Police named that man as a "person of interest" at the time, but no arrests were ever made. "There's nothing. We are no closer today than we were five years ago. That's the most heartbreaking thing about this," a family member said. Westbrook's phone and bank accounts remain untouched. The family is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts. Anyone with information should call Anacortes Police at 360-299-1985.  Westbrook's mother, Barb Kopp, said her daughter would never intentionally put anyone through an ordeal like this. She says she still has dreams about her daughter, and those may be the closest she comes to ever seeing her again. "It's devastating," said Kopp, fighting back tears. "She was my best friend."  Westbrook's family is planning a vigil Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Causland Memorial Park in Anacortes. The public is encouraged to attend. KING 5's More Than a Number series seeks to give a face to those killed and a voice to their family and closest friends. If you would like to honor a loved one you lost, you can use the form below or email us at MoreThanANumber@king5.com to tell us about them, and we will add them to our memorial page.  If you need help or support in your time of loss, please visit our resource guide. For more details on this project, please visit king5.com/MoreThanANumber.

Trash Club, a volunteer group in Bellingham, plans to install "Guerrilla Garbage Cans" to combat litter in Whatcom Creek. BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Whatcom Creek is a treasure in Bellingham, but it's also getting trashed.  Much of the garbage left on the streets makes its way to the waterway, and with the city not putting out garbage cans, locals are taking matters into their own hands. When Matt Bryant looks at the trash littering the creek, he doesn't just see garbage. He sees us. "I've pulled many syringes straight out of the water. We find weapons," Bryant said. "You see the layers of our struggles. You see addiction and consumption and excess and waste." Welcome to Trash Club. The group started during the pandemic when Bryant saw garbage piling up along Whatcom Creek, especially in areas around homeless camps. "I thought to myself someone should do something about that. I had that moment of realizing I'm the somebody," he said. The group of bike-riding volunteers meets monthly to do cleanups. Over the past four years they've collected an impressive 75 tons of trash. "Honestly it's hard to keep up," Bryant said. Among those helping with the cleanup efforts is David Banzini, a homeless man who lives near the creek. Banzini assists in the cleanups and uses plastic shopping bags from grocery stores as makeshift trash receptacles. "The problem is some people feel entitled to do whatever they want," Banzini said. "My grandpa said leave every place nicer than you found it, if you can." When Bryant asked Bellingham officials about simply putting out trash cans along that portion of the creek to cut down on the amount of waste going into the water, he was told it was too expensive -- at least $7,000. It's also difficult to get a truck down the path for pick up. Richard Griffin, Bellingham park facilities manager said, "We appreciate the many volunteers who help in this complicated and well-used corridor. The City has multiple trash can locations along this corridor in places our facilities team are able to reach with a truck to empty." Trash Club is now assisting the city by launching an online fundraising campaign. With the city's consent, Bryant is planning to put six far cheaper trash bins along the creek -- what he calls "Guerrilla Garbage Cans" -- that volunteers will maintain. Fundraiser by Matt Bryant : Support Trash Club's New Guerilla Garbage Cans "The full idea behind Trash Club is we are not powerless. We can take action to help improve our situation," he said. The hope is that one day when people look at Whatcom Creek, it will be a far better reflection of us. "We can keep picking up the trash but until we address some of the root causes it's not gonna stop," Bryant said. Trash Club plans to start deploying the garbage cans on September 7 and is always looking for more volunteers. You can reach via email or on Instagram.