A Cinderella Story: Stockton Teen's Stolen Sparkly Sneakers Returned Home
STOCKTON (CBS13) — They may not be ruby red, but a Stockton teen's sparkly slippers are back in her hands again, days after someone stole them off her family's doorstep.
For Chasity Williams, her new sparkling sneakers are more than just shoes. They're a symbol, a graduation gift from her parents as she reaches the end of her Bear Creek High School career. She was supposed to wear them to prom.
"Out of everything being shut down – school, prom, graduation," Chasity Williams said. "This had to happen."
But weeks ago, Chasity and her family didn't know if they'd ever see the shoes again. Surveillance video shows someone run up to their door, snag the shoes and run away.
"To steal that, you're stealing all I had left as far of the school year and I was hurt," she said.
The Williams family accepted the shoes were gone, filed a police report, and worked towards replacing them. Then a woman by the name of C. Toni Graham stepped up to donate double what the shoes were worth. The shoes cost $250, so Graham sent the family $500.
"She said 'I just want to be able to make her feel better,'" Chasity's mother, Shaqueda Williams, said, explaining the conversation with Graham. "(She asked) 'Can I replace the shoes?'"
But that wouldn't be necessary. Ten days later another video popped up on their surveillance camera. An unknown woman dropped them off in a bag, with a note. The note read that she saw someone attempting to sell the sneakers; she purchased them and returned them. That shocked Shaqueda.
"Woah what's in the bag – never thinking it'd be her shoes," Williams said. "It was just one of those moments, I had chills all over my body."
No matter the circumstances, the Williams family was just happy to have the shoes back.
"I was so grateful to find the shoes in the bag, Chasity said. "I was so happy."
One look at the dazzling detail in the shoes, it's a fitting Cinderella story, one with the fairytale ending the Williams family didn't expect. Chasity plans to wear the shoes in her senior photos and frame them in a memory box after this.
The San Jose woman, C. Toni Graham, who donated the $500 to replace the shoes, told the Williams family to keep the money in commemoration of this major milestone in her life, despite the shoes being returned.
As for the man who stole the shoes in the first place, Stockton Police do say he's a suspect. If you know anything about him, give them a call.