Stolen pendant returned to owner after arrests of Osceola porch pirates

GOSHEN, Ind. (WNDU) - Anyone who has ever had something special stolen from them knows how rare it is to find it back at their doorstep.

“Hello, how are you?”, St. Joseph County Detective Kyle Stopcynzski asked. “Good, come on in,” opening her front door, a Goshen resident replied.

But for this particular woman, Stopczynski made that rarity into a reality.

“Oh, that’s it!” the resident, who wanted to remain nameless, said excitingly.

It was a personalized pendant that was stolen off her porch weeks earlier.

“Yeah, that’s it. This is my mother’s finger print,” the resident told Stopczynski.

“I was so upset because my mother just passed away so when they called me, I was really excited,” the resident told 16 News Now Thursday afternoon.

The woman also excited to know the two alleged porch pirates, who could be seen from her ring doorbell taking her taking her package, and riding around in a stolen Jeep, have finally been caught two days earlier.

“I’m glad that they caught the people because when I saw her, I said maybe she will return it once she notices what it is and return it, but no,” the woman said.

However, Stopcynski did and for him, returning the pendant was more than just business.

“When we found it, I knew it was something special to somebody and our biggest goal was to find that person,” Stopcynski told the woman.

It was personal.

“I lost my mom a couple of years ago so I understand that what little things you do have left from that lab one is very important to you so it becomes personal to me. If something of my mothers got stolen, I’d be very upset and I’d want that back,” Stopcynzski says.

In the end, the owner of the pendant says she is thankful to have what belonged to her back home.

“I’m really happy, really happy,” the woman says.

St Joseph County Police Department says they want to thank everyone in the community who bravely help track down the suspects and ultimately reunite a special possession with its owner.

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