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‘It gives you a little bit of faith’: Cello stolen in Williams Lake returned to American owner

Rita Rice said after it was stolen in August they had given up on it
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Bryan Rice with the electric cello that was recently returned to him after it was stolen from his vehicle while staying in a Williams Lake motel in August. Photo submitted

An electric cello stolen from an American couple’s vehicle in August while they were staying at a motel in Williams Lake has been returned to them.

Rita Rice of Weatherford, Texas told the Tribune Wednesday, they never heard anything about it after it was reported missing on Aug. 23, 2019 until she got a phone call recently.

Read more: Visiting U.S. couple heartbroken after cello stolen from vehicle in lakecity

“We had pretty well given up on it and then I got a phone call from a man who said he’d seen some guy with it and heard about it and gave him some money for it,” Rice said from Texas.

“It all sounded a little weird, but I could tell he had the cello because I asked him a couple of details to make sure. It has a bow with red carbon fibre so it is a little bit distinctive.”

After she realized it was her husband Bryan’s cello, Rice called the Williams Lake RCMP and an officer volunteered to pick it up and ship it.

“I really want to thank the RCMP for going out of their way,” Rice said. “I don’t know if we would have got anything like that kind of service here in Texas. Them volunteering to go pick up the stolen item — that’s amazing.”

Rice mailed the man who called her the $200 reward they had offered for the cello’s return.

“I’m so excited it made its way back to us,” Rice said. “It gives you a little faith. Everything was there and my husband has started to play it again.”

Read more: Boat stolen from Americans found stripped on backroad east of Williams Lake



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Monica Lamb-Yorski

About the Author: Monica Lamb-Yorski

A B.C. gal, I was born in Alert Bay, raised in Nelson, graduated from the University of Winnipeg, and wrote my first-ever article for the Prince Rupert Daily News.
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