"True grinch" steals woman's Christmas ornaments from Uptown Minneapolis apartment building
MINNEAPOLIS — An Uptown Minneapolis woman is dealing with a real-life grinch.
Just before Thanksgiving, a thief stole dozens of Christmas ornaments from Tynelle Marschall, after breaking into her apartment's storage lockers.
"See your family, spend time with them and celebrate what the season is about," said Marschall, 32.
Each year, Marschall looks forward to the holiday season. Late November is usually when she starts to decorate her apartment on the 2400 block of Dupont Avenue. But right now, she has nothing to decorate it with.
"As you can see I have nothing on my tree," said Marschall.
The weekend before Thanksgiving, a thief broke into the storage lockers in the basement and made off with all kinds of valuables, including Marschall's holiday ornaments.
But these were no ordinary Christmas ornaments. For Marschall, they had years' worth of sentimental value.
"When I had my own place I was really pumped because my grandma Jeanette and my grandpa Gilbert have been giving me Christmas ornaments every, single year since I was born. They are Hallmark ornaments. They are beautiful and really unique," said Marschall.
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Marschall's grandparents had personalized each one and had sent her a total of 32.
"My grandma always picked something out based on what I was experiencing and going through in life so when I got my first car, I got a car ornament. The year I got baptized I got a really beautiful cross," said Marschall.
With her grandpa recently passing away, Marschall said holiday decorating was going to be extra special this year. The Hallmark ornaments are popular online, and she estimates the thief took off with more than $1,000 worth of decorations.
"Christmases and memories and whoever did it is a true grinch," said Marschall. "They are just things that are irreplaceable and I think people don't think about that."
Many of the ornaments are no longer made.
Marschall and her apartment complex filed a police report.
She's also doing her own investigation by scouring Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist to see if they pop up.