Winnipeg woman turns to social media to get stolen rings back

She knows it's a long shot, but Jessica Yakiwchuk is turning to social media to try and get back some of her stolen treasures. 

Someone kicked in the door of her River Heights home while she was out Friday night and lifted two jewelry boxes in her bedroom. 

"They weren't rummaged through. The entire boxes were taken," she said.

"Some of that stuff is replaceable, like a Pandora bracelet. But one of [the boxes] had my grandmother's wedding rings. My other grandmother passed away last year, and I had a rosary that she had given me for my first communion in it. Other religious stuff that she treasured that I had that has a lot of sentimental value," said Yakiwchuk.

She is at a loss to explain why none of the big-ticket electronic items were stolen. 

"The funny thing is we have electronics. A TV and Wii in our bedroom and that wasn't touched. In the kitchen we had phones lying on the counter. They weren't touched. We have a big screen downstairs.That wasn't touched. Like nothing else was touched. It seemed like the only room they went in was the bedroom and left," she said.

Yakiwchuk said the rings were all her grandmother had to give her. 

"Before she died, she said I don't have much, but my rings are for you now. That's all I have from my grandma. They are very sentimental to me. I wore them at Christmas and when both of my brothers got married this summer. I know some people don't understand the sentiment of it. To them, it's just money."

The rings are so important to Yakiwchuk that she had them tattooed on her arm — after almost losing them. She had been wearing them shortly after her grandmother died, before she had them sized. 

"It was so scary. I didn't know they had fallen off my finger into my purse. My heart dropped to the bottom of my stomach. And I thought, I will never lose them again and even had them tattooed on me."

In addition to filing a police report, Yakiwchuk posted about her plight on Facebook. A friend of a friend had her wedding rings stolen and got them back through social media.

More than a dozen people have gotten in touch, some with picture of similar-looking rings they had found. But so far they haven't been hers. 

But Yakiwchuk is staying hopeful as she begins to search pawn shops and goldsmiths — and it seems others aren't giving up either. 

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Strangers have told Yakiwchuk that they're scouring online classifieds and buy-and-sell groups on social media on her behalf.

"I can't believe how many people have been online. Four-thousand shares. It's kind of mind-blowing. You think social media is a bad thing because it disconnects people from each other. But in other ways like this, maybe it's my only chance of getting my stuff back."

Grandmother's jewelry stolen in robbery

8 years ago

Duration 0:45

A River Heights woman is hoping social media will help her get back her grandmother's stolen wedding rings. Jessica Yakiwchuk's house was broken into Friday night and two jewelry boxes were taken containing personal belongings and her grandmother's rings.