Girl Finds Priceless Knives Stolen From Chef Justin Sutherland's Car In St. Paul

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Twin Cities chef has been reunited with precious family heirlooms that were stolen out of his car earlier this month.

Justin Sutherland told WCCO's Jason DeRusha Thursday night that a young girl named Madelyn and her mother spotted his black knife roll bag while looking for gnomes hidden in a St. Paul neighborhood off of Selby Avenue.

Luckily for Sutherland, Madelyn's mother saw WCCO's story about the theft and immediately recognized the roll. They returned it to him early Thursday evening, with every single knife still inside.

The roll -- as well as Sutherland's laptop and about $1,000 of his employees' tip money -- was stolen after someone smashed into his car on the early morning of Sept. 5 in the parking lot of his Handsome Hog restaurant in the Cathedral Hill neighborhood.

Several of the knives were given to him from his deceased grandfather and his grandmother, the latter who brought them with her from Japan.

"A lot of irreplaceable, sentimental value," Sutherland told WCCO a day after the theft.

St. Paul police are still investigating.