Brazen Thief Snatches Gold Necklace From 93-Year-Old Woman Using A Walker
NORWALK (CBS) — Norwalk police confirm to KCAL9 that the latest victim in a rash of snatch-and-run gold chain robberies was a 93-year-old woman.
A 14k gold necklace with a gold pendant -- priceless to the victim because of its sentimental value -- was stolen from the elderly woman's neck as she walked near her home Thursday evening.
The pendant contained a picture of the victim and her late husband Anthony. Her husband of seventy years, who recently died.
Rose Veiga told KCAL9's Serene Branson that the necklace obviously "meant a lot."
The theft occurred, around 5 p.m., at the cross streets of Excelsior Drive and Corby Avenue. Veiga was taking a leisurely stroll -- using her walker "so I'm slow" -- near the house she has called home for sixty years.
She told Branson, "This guy comes so quick he didn't yank the chain off my neck or he would have hurt me. He took it over [my] head."
The pendant was given to her by the mortuary who conducted the funeral services for her husband. On one side there was a picture of the couple, on the other the words, "Always in my heart."
Branson also spoke to a neighbor who was out walking his dog. Said Frankie, "All of a sudden I hear this scream and this guy was taking something from our neighbor."
The teen says he gave chase but the thief hopped into the passenger side of a black sedan (possibly a Lexus) and sped off. He walked Veiga home and he said "she seemed scared. It was hard for her to walk back home."
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is investigating. They are also trying to establish if this robbery matches a recent pattern with other strong-arm robberies that have targeted the elderly.
The suspects are two men in their twenties.
Veiga told Branson she wants the necklace back, of course. But says the memories in her heart can "never" be stolen.
