Well, my guitars that were stolen this Spring have finally been returned! Pretty amazing. They're sitting right here, with the "Evidence" tags still on 'em from the Police station. They all seem to be in perfect shape, although someone had retuned them really high for some reason...but that was easily fixed!
The story of the recovery and subsequent case, as I got from the very friendly and helpful Detective Neumann, revolved around an instrument I don't play at all...a cello. Seems that a very expensive ($30,000-$40,000) cello had been stolen in one of the areas West of Detroit. Later on, this guy (let's call him Mr. X right now) contacts a music store trying to sell it. Of course the music store personnel are aware of this missing cello and alert the police, who wind up raiding X's place. A HUGE amount of stuff ("That was obviously not his" said Neumann) was found in his house, including lots of jewelry, computers, TVs, guns...and guitars. As well as this cello.
The Detroit police made a photo CD of the goods and a lot of them wound up being from this area, where there have been quite a few break-ins this last year. They sent on the photos and descriptions to the other police departments in SE Michigan. I'd given a very detailed description of my lost instruments, which they'd had on file. Deputy Ken Smith emailed me some pictures, and there were my guitars! I was astounded. There were some delays since several of the officers were out for a few weeks, but Detective Neumann saw me today and got me back the guitars, and gave me the word.
It looks like the thing I feared most, that it was someone I knew or that it had something to do with my studio work, was not the case. Mr. X has been hitting areas around Ann Arbor, Westland, Livonia and other close-by towns randomly...but consistently. The fact that my Dad had left a convenient key in an easily-cracked combo lock was just gravy in this case. As Neumann helped me get my axes to the car (he really is a nice guy), he remarked "Do you know how rare this is, for someone to get their property back in this situation? It almost never happens". I know for sure I wasn't expecting to see these guitars again!
It seems surreal to me, but now they're back. It's been a strange time and parts of it very emotionally trying, but actually the experience has been very positive. The guitars are retrieved, and I have a new and much better appreciation of the police force and the work they do, as well as the opportunity for me to meet some of the great people who work in it. And even more importantly, the caring and the support of my friends and the community of musicians in town and around the world online has made me aware just how much I am blessed with the wonderful people around me. I'd like to thank Dave Budzinski especially for making me that Tele to substitute for mine (hey, Bud, I'll wrassle you for the new one!), to Cynthia for being such an amazing and supportive partner through all this, to my band for hanging in there with me, to Deputy Ken Smith, Officer Keith Dalton and Detective Mark Neumann, and very very sincerely to all of you who wrote and called me!! I appreciate it more than I can say. I'm a lucky guy!!!
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