SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — Dozens of used tires that were stacked in front of a vacant business at the intersection of Austin Peay and Mudville Road in North Shelby County are gone.

Neatly arranged near the intersection, the tires had become both an eyesore and a mystery for people passing by.

“Every day for the last 12 years, I’ve been driving down this road,” said Brenda Roach, who lives in Brighton, Tennessee. “For the last few months, I noticed all these tires in front of this store, and it’s kind of an eyesore.”

Roach had a few choice words for the “tire graveyard” on Austin Peay Highway.

“It’s distracting,” she said. “It’s hideous.”

Last week when we went out there WREG could not find any indication that the tires are either for sale or free for the taking, and they appear to be all used.

“I’m surprised they don’t get taken,” Roach said. “I guess they’re no good, or someone would have taken them, I’m sure. Maybe they’re just bad tires. I’ve never really looked at them this closely.”

Shelby County Code Enforcement received a complaint about the tires Dec. 26 and sent an inspector to the site Friday morning.

WREG found that the owner is Kia Properties, LLC in Germantown.

At the business in Germantown, WREG found a code enforcement inspector also looking for the owner. The inspector declined to talk but did leave a courtesy citation taped to the front door of the business. A man at the business said the owner was out of town, and he said he will make sure the tires are taken up.

A WREG viewer told us someone started removing the tires shortly after that visit Friday. By Tuesday morning, the tires were completely gone.

We don’t know exactly who removed the tires but we were told that it was a tire business out of Covington.