Hot sauce burglar steals priceless family heirloom from Seattle dealership's safe
Hot sauce burglar steals priceless family heirloom from Seattle dealerships safe
A priceless family heirloom has been stolen out of a safe, and now the family is offering a reward to get it back. The family treasure is a gold ring with a gem that has been in the Lindquist family for 90 years. The ring to us is priceless. Its the only memory we have of my grandfather, said Zach Lindquist of Wild West Cars and Trucks. It is a 90-year-old ring. It was passed down from his fathers fathers down to [my dad] after his father passed away. Its an heirloom that was supposed to be passed down to me or my older brother. The burglary happened in the overnight hours on Saturday at the family-owned car dealership on Lake City Way. The family was also frustrated to learn Seattle police officers responded while the burglary was in progress, and the officers never seemed to notice the incident unfolding several hundred feet away from them.
SEATTLE – A priceless family heirloom has been stolen out of a safe, and now the family is offering a reward to get it back.
The family treasure is a gold ring with a gem that has been in the Lindquist family for 90 years.
“The ring to us is priceless. It’s the only memory we have of my grandfather,” said Zach Lindquist of Wild West Cars and Trucks. “It is a 90-year-old ring. It was passed down from his father’s fathers down to after his father passed away. It’s an heirloom that was supposed to be passed down to me or my older brother.”
The burglary happened in the overnight hours on Saturday at the family-owned car dealership on Lake City Way. The family was also frustrated to learn Seattle police officers responded while the burglary was in progress, and the officers never seemed to notice the incident unfolding several hundred feet away from them.
“I’m not pointing fingers at anybody, but I definitely think that they should go through this footage and rethink what happened that night and what they could’ve done differently to prevent this from happening,” said Lindquist.
Surveillance video shows two officers on the property for nearly 50 minutes after the burglar triggered the security alarm. Lindquist points out the officers checked the show room building and upper parking lot, but never made it to the office building at the lower end of the lot.
At one point, the burglar even turned the lights on inside the office building, but the police didn’t seem to notice. Eventually they drove away, and the burglar got away with the family ring and $100,000 worth of valuables.
"We will review the earlier response," SPD said in a statement.
Other valuables stolen include a passport, titles to personally owned motorcycles, a hand gun, silver and gold collector coins, watches, bracelets and other jewelry.
The burglar broke into the office building, then pried open all the doors to the offices, including where the safe is located. That safe appears to have been sawed open with a power tool and was covered in hot sauce. The family believes the thief may have been trying to cover the tracks with the hot sauce.
The family is offering a $5,000 reward to anyone who returns the ring, or gives them information that will lead to the ring’s return.