Thieves Steal Memories, 1941 Flag From Couple
DIAMOND SPRINGS (CBS13) — Priceless and irreplaceable antiques, including an American Flag from 1941 once laid on the casket of a parent who died during World War II were stolen from an elderly couple's home in El Dorado County.
The couple lived in one home for 38 years without a problem. But in the process of moving, thieves left their big screen TV and instead targeted things the grandparents can never replace.
"That's the first thing they did, bashed their way in and this piece was hanging over here -- and the door was wide open," said Keith Dockter.
He took CBS13's cameras room to room, showing where his antique Zenith radio used to sit. It was a gift he bought his wife when they moved in nearly four decades ago.
"Thirty-eight years ago, that was the first thing I ever bought her," he said.
He walked us from the kitchen to the back bedroom where burglars pulled out his grandkids' crib and dug through the closet.
"$400 leather jacket, that's gone," he said.
His wife Beverly can't believe someone went through their Diamond Springs home, loading up precious antiques and keepsakes using their kitchen garbage can.
"You know there were strangers in your home, that they were walking around, they were beside your bed," she said. "You feel like someone just took your life and just threw it away. It just leaves you devastated."
Nothing is more devastating than the 48-star flag that was taken. It was laid on the casket of Beverly's father who died during World War II when she was 2 weeks old.
"Especially the flag, because my dad is not alive any more I have nothing of my father. The radio we had before my son was born. That was very, very important to us," she said.
The crime shattered the grandparents' long-held sense of safety and security.
"We never really felt how people feel when they get vandalized. Now I know how they feel," he said. "I wanna kill somebody. I'd like to get ahold of these guys."
Thieves reportedly tried breaking into another home right across the street on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the couple is left checking every thrift store and flea market they can think of in hopes their lost items turn up.
