There was a little published jewel theft from a jeweler on Tates
Creek Road some time ago. Nearly a million dollars of diamonds,
pearls, and various pieces of gold and platinum jewelry were taken.
The police arrived quickly to the scene but the thief was long
gone. Clearly the job was done by a professional. Other than the
broken display cases and stolen merchandise, there was little
outward sign of theft. The thief must have been unaware of the
alarm system tied to the display cases.
As the police were setting up a perimeter, a 911 call from a
nearby resident reported a suspicious person near N37 57.532 W84
30.124. A quick thinking officer knew that that the likely path of
the thief was into the back side of Veteran’s Park (posting
coordinates, nothing is here.) and not the elementary school near
the sighting. With sirens blaring, the case began.
Heading north from the parking lot, he attempted to cut off the
thief. After crossing the drainage ditch, the officer spotted a ski
mask and bag, N37 57.455 W84 29.990. The officer opened the bag to
find lock picks, various other tools and a diamond necklace. The
thief was here alright. The thief must have eluded him somehow. The
officer took some solace in that his instinct was right. The
officer started back for the car all the while looking for signs of
the thief. At the entrance to the creek side trail there was black
spray painted automotive safety hammer, just the thing to break
into a display case. The thief must have passed him by way of the
creek side trail.
Reaching the squad car, the officer began looking for more
leads. A mother and son were playing on the nearby playground. The
officer asked if they had seen the suspect from the 911 call.
Indeed they had. They noticed a person matching the description run
across the bridge just down the paved path. The officer gave his
thanks and headed off down the path.
Upon reaching a bench on the far side of the bridge, the officer
noticed nothing strange and began puzzling which way to go;
upstream, downstream or further on the paved path. The paved path
seemed doubtful. Upstream there were two boys fishing, another
unlikely path for an escape. The officer called out to the two boys
to verify his thinking. One boy told the officer they had been
there for at least an hour and only a jogger passed them from the
direction of the disk golf holes (pointing upstream). The second
boy added that someone was at the park bench a few minutes earlier
before heading off into the woods. The boy only noticed because
they were there for a good bit of time but did not sit down.
Invigorated by the report, the officer raced downstream along the
bank of the creek.
As the officer followed the trail, he realized that he had
crossed the county line. He was obviously far too focused on the
task at hand, the trail and his choice in footwear. Stopping in the
clearing in the canopy, he called in to report his location. A
glint and some motion on the hill grabbed the officer’s attention.
It was the thief. Rushing up the hill, the officer fell on the
loose rocks allowing the thief to get out of sight. At the top of
the hill he caught another glimpse far up one of the trails. The
pursuit continued down the grassy trail headed west.
The trail seemed to go cold as he reached the park’s edge. There
were no signs of the thief on any of the side trails to indicate
the direction the suspect took. Those damned mountain bikers
keeping the trails groomed the officer thought. Suddenly word went
out on the radio that the thief had been captured just to the north
at N37 57.152 W84 30.317. The officer, out of breath, was a bit
disappointed he did not make the arrest but was glad the chase was
over.
Unfortunately, the jewels were not found on the thief. Just a
strange hand-written note with “G.E,M.S” on it was found. The
police now believe that the jewels were cached somewhere in the
park but have been unable to find them.
Do you think you can find the cache and take the loot?
Many thanks to Michael Downs @ LFUCG Parks Department and
IronHorseReviewer for their help placing this cache.
Congratulations to TheBugClan and DaBigBug for the FTF
LFUCG Parks Department Approval VP17-21