On Sunday, June 3, a Van Buren Township resident decided to take her friend up on an invitation to check out the new casino in Toledo. She left her Robbe Road home about 12:55 p.m.
When she returned home around 9:10 p.m., she noticed her bedroom and other rooms had been ransacked and her large collection of jewelry was gone, according to VBT Police Captain Gregory Laurain.
While she was at the casino, her neighbor had called her cell phone at 2:18 p.m. to tell her that the side door of her house was open and she asked him to go over and lock it. She said he reported it was locked, but not pushed shut, so he pushed it shut.
Later, when the theft was discovered, her neighbor told her and police that there was a suspicious young man walking down her driveway at about 2 p.m. He was described as a white male in his 20s, 5’10” and slim build, carrying a white sack and clipboard.
The police report said there was no sign of forcible entry to her home and all doors and windows were locked.
The woman said she never uses that side door and you have to push it real hard for it to latch.
She said neighbors report the young man, who hadn’t shaved in a few days, walked the whole street, telling some he was looking for his lost dog. He reportedly walked into a neighbor’s occupied house and told her he was looking for his dog.
Neighbors reported he stopped going door to door after he left her house and got into a red, compact car that headed north on Haggerty Road. A neighbor followed the car, but then lost it.
He was wearing a white shirt and dark pants.
“When I got home, my heart was broken,” the 70-year-old woman said. She explained she has always loved fine jewelry and has been collecting pieces since she was 10 years old.
She said thousands and thousands of dollars worth of jewelry are gone and many of them are unique pieces. She is still trying to make a list of the loss for the insurance company, but she told police there were at least 50 pairs of earrings, at least 50 rings (some custom made), a wedding band, her grandmother’s antique watch, and about 15 necklaces.
She said she usually wears three rings, but for some reason didn’t wear any rings the day she went to the casino. She generally would wear her gold head of David ring and a diamond pinkie ring. All gone now.
She only wore her ivory earrings that day.
The widow said for years she had her jewelry scattered around the house because she enjoyed looking at it. Recently, she got an antique toolbox and made it into a large jewelry box and put all her precious jewelry into it. Now it is empty.
Her father would get hand-crafted gold rings for her mother and the two daughters. Her husband bought her lots of gold chains.
“Every memory I have is gone,” she said.
She believes the thieves will sell all the gold, but she asks them if they don’t want her pieces of costume jewelry to put them in a bag and drop it off for her.
The woman now has an ADT security system and she wants to warn the public to be aware of the theft and to make sure everything is locked up on their homes.
She also is very thankful for the neighbor who watches over her and her home.