Stolen cedar-strip canoe found safe 1 block from home
Caitlin Hanson | CBC News | Posted: September 28, 2015 6:34 PM | Last Updated: September 28, 2015
'It just goes to show that there’s awesome people out there willing to help,' says Kurt Mueller
An Edmonton family will be back on the water soon after their stolen one-of-a-kind canoe was tracked down in a yard just a block away from their home.
Kurt Mueller's handcrafted cedar-strip canoe was taken from the top of his Volkswagen van next to his house in late August.
Mueller and his family spent weeks putting up posters of the stolen vessel, built by his father, and just last week, spoke on Edmonton AM about his search efforts.
On Friday night, Mueller received a call from a couple who had seen one of his posters and recognized the canoe pictured as the one sitting in their backyard.
Just to make sure, the pair phoned their roommates to confirm the described brass plate with Mueller's father's name on it was there.
"And sure enough, it says 'Handcrafted by Joe Mueller, 2005,'" Mueller said.
Mueller rushed over to the address provided — just one block south of his own house in Allendale — to check on the canoe.
Because the roommates only moved in at the beginning of September, about a week after the canoe was taken and seemingly dumped in their yard, they assumed it either belonged to a previous tenant or to the basement tenant.
"They just never connected, right? So everybody thought it belonged to somebody else."
Second canoe in the works
Mueller and his wife immediately phoned police to update them on the whereabouts of the missing canoe and were given permission to take it back home.
The canoe is in perfect shape, he said, and is now safely locked up in his backyard.
Police are still investigating the matter, Mueller said.
"I don't know what exactly happened there, but I'm happy that I got it back."
Besides having the boat back where it belongs, the best part for Mueller was getting to tell his dad, boat-builder Joe Mueller, that his canoe had been found.
Mueller had originally been hesitant to tell his dad the boat had been stolen, but decided to make the call to his parents' house in Ontario after speaking on CBC Radio.
Before he could deliver the news, though, his dad told him he'd recently bought some wood to start work on a new boat — his first in 12 years.
"When I told them that I had some bad news they were right away thinking there's something wrong with my family … they said 'Well, at least nobody's hurt, everybody's fine.' They always look on the positive side of things," he said.
"Then dad says 'You know what, if it doesn't come back, I'm building another one.'"
Now that his original canoe is safely back home with the help of his neighbours, Mueller says he's very grateful to everyone who chipped in to help his family out.
"I've met a lot of nice people and you know what, there's some really good people out there," he said.
"This is kind of a bad thing that happened to us but it just goes to show that there's awesome people out there willing to help."
As for where the canoe will go next — this time with Mueller and his wife safely inside, with paddles in hand:
"There's lot of places to go — we'll think of something."