Help find the owner of a stolen shotgun

[jmr40]

I saw this posted on another hunting forum and thought it would be a good idea to get the word out to as many people as possible.

Short version. A very rare shotgun was reported stolen in 1972 in Nashville. The gun has been recovered, but Nashville records don't go back that far. The detective working the case is trying to locate the owner or their family.

Stolen shotgun recovered.....owner sought

Guys, I'm copying this from tndeer.com where I'm a member. It's a post from a police detective who is trying to find the owner of a rare and collectible shotgun that has been recovered several years after being reported stolen in Nashville. This site gets a huge amount of traffic and I wan...

www.24hourcampfire.com

 

[jmorris]

If they don't have any records and have no idea, it's mine. Unless it has lead them to the commission of another crime, then I've never seen it before...

Odd they have it down as stolen but no record of who reported it. How do you even convict the thief at that point? Hard to convict someone for stealing something no one clams ownership of, I would imagine.

 

[Golfanaticshooter]

Good luck detective, I hope you find the family!

 

[Soonerpesek]

If they don't have any records and have no idea, it's mine. Unless it has lead them to the commission of another crime, then I've never seen it before...

Odd they have it down as stolen but no record of who reported it. How do you even convict the thief at that point? Hard to convict someone for stealing something no one clams ownership of, I would imagine.

It doesn't appear that convicting is the question....
Seems like the PD wants to find the original owner or family so it can be returned to the rightful owner.............

 

[Lo-Profile]

Short version. A very rare shotgun was reported stolen in 1972 in Nashville. The gun has been recovered, but Nashville records don't go back that far. The detective working the case is trying to locate the owner or their family.

If it was reported stolen, they should still have the name of the victim. Could run him thru the TN DMV records. At 52 years later the victim is probably dead by now. Hard to believe a "open" case wouldn't have a record somewhere.

 

[jmr40]

I realize this is a long shot. But who knows. Someone may know someone living in Nashville at the time. Judging by the description in the other post it was one of only 3 that are known to still exist. Only 44 made like it in the 1930's. That should jump out to someone if they hear that the gun has been found.

 

[lemaymiami]

Not un-common for Departments to recover a firearm reported stolen years ago - then never be able to contact the victim... (people move, pass away, we're a very mobile society...). The stolen entry is there forever until it's recovered or cancelled by the original agency that took the report - but victims or folk that report a stolen weapon - need to make sure that they file a supplemental report with the original case number when they re-locate or they'll never hear about the recovery...
I ran my agency's property room for a year or two - many years ago and found that situation a few times during my time there. My hat's off to the individual going the extra mile to try to find the owner of that collector's piece....

 

[jmr40]

Update:

Apparently, the son of the original owner has been located and will be getting his father's shotgun back. He was 16 years old when the gun was stolen in 1972.

 

[LiveLife]

Ni

Update: ... son of the original owner has been located and will be getting his father's shotgun back. He was 16 years old when the gun was stolen in 1972.

Nice.

I love happy endings, especially firearm related situations.

I had several firearms stolen in a home-invasion robbery (We missed the robbers by like 10 minutes according to neighbors). Good thing I had my firearms in multiple locations and they only found easily replaceable ones which got replaced except for SLR-95 (My favorite AK). After seeing how easy it is to unlock gun safes (Especially electronic ones), now I have cheap "decoy" 12 rifle box/safe that meets CA gun storage mandate unlocked/partially open in the hallway with cheap shooting accessories like hearing protection and few boxes of 22LR but all of my guns are kept elsewhere. (Non-working/unplugged locking upright freezers are great for storing welding rods ... and have insulation for housefires )

Several years later, to my surprise, I get a call from local PD saying they found my firearms in a gang related bust and to come and get them after they cleared evidence process. It was a happy day. (Sadly, SLR-95 was not recovered but since transitioned to AR-15s in .223/.300BLK, 9mm/40/45ACP PCCs and considering 350/400 Legend uppers due to 9mm/40S&W reloading components I have on hand)

oops
How do I delete a mistake post?

You can't ... THR "deleted" the "Delete" button I think in response to other members quoting the posts that were now non-existent and created some issues.

"Delete" post button is available for THR's sister forum NTT but for a short time and the "Delete" button goes away.

You can change THR post content to "Deleted" and will be the same thing.

 

[jmr40]

I've had 2 stolen. A G19 taken from my truck that I simply forgot to bring into the house one night. That was 10 1/2 years ago. It was recovered one month later in the county to the south. LE was trying to arrest drug dealers; they wrapped it in a T-shirt and tossed it out the window of their car before stopping. It was still recovered.

The DA didn't want to release it until after the trial. The 2 guys finally pled guilty 8 years later and were sentenced with no trial and I got my gun back. That was 2 years ago. The gun was fine functionally, but they engraved the case number on the slide. Fortunately, the coating Glock uses is HARD. It is barely visible and only in bright light. I kept the evidence box and all of the paperwork. With the slide engraved it isn't worth much to sell and one of the grandkids will appreciate the history behind it one day.

I felt bad and responsible for that one getting away. Less so with the 2nd one. My wife and I had been running some errands and went into a post office requiring me to leave it in my truck. While parked someone used an electronic device to unlock my door and steal the gun. I found out that day that thieves can steal your key fob signal if you use it to lock your doors and clone another device to unlock it. It was all caught on security camera, but they got no tag number and were not able to identify the guy. I now press the button on the door to lock doors. I may use the fob to unlock it on my way back.

That gun, (a Ruger LC9s worth about $250 used), turned up 15 months later in Baltimore. To get it back required a 1400-mile round trip and 2 nights on the road. For a $250 gun I told them just to keep it. I never filed either on my insurance. I have a $1000 deductible anyway.

 

[Jim Watson]

Great news and very uncommon.

I got lucky, the juvie punk that stole several of my guns - my contribution was an unlocked window and guns left out after cleaning and tinkering - made a try at an alarmed business two nights later, the police chased him until he wrecked his (stolen) car. Several of my guns were still in the car, one of the cops who caught him recognized them, they simply called me and handed them back at the site. The rest were at his home, they retrieved them from his Mother and returned them to me a couple of weeks later after the "family court" had done all it was going to do to him.

 

[lemaymiami]

Once again, my hat's off to the detective who went the extra mile to return that stolen shotgun... Hope his agency remembers to make a commendation for him... (nice to have some good paper in your file - it helps to offset the other kind of paperwork - that every officer will accumulate in a law enforcement career if you're active and in the thick of things... ).