Good Person/Hero of the Week: Boston Police Recover $13,000 Flute Reported Missing in 2012

 Imagine losing something worth  $13,000 and nine years goes by. You would think that it was lost forever. But that's not the case, thanks to a sharp clerk and the Boston Police! Here's a story from the Boston Police website about the recovery and return of an expensive flute to its rightful owner. 

                    (Photo:  Heidi Slyker reunited with her missing flute. Credit: NBC Boston)

$13,000 Flute Reported Missing in 2012 Recovered

Source: Boston Police Dept. News , April 22, 2021

On April 19, 2021, detectives from District A-1 (Downtown, Beacon Hill, Chinatown, North End) returned a valuable flute to its rightful owner after it was reported missing in 2012 after its owner left it in a taxi cab.

On February 19, 2021, Boston Police were contacted by an individual working at a music instrument store in Boston who reported that an individual came into the music instrument store with the flute looking to determine its value. The music store employee took the individuals contact information and a picture of the flute with its serial number. The employee later determined that the flute may be the one that was reported missing in 2012.

On April 9, 2021, detectives spoke with the individual who entered the music instrument store and attempted to determine the value of the flute that he was in possession of. The individual told detectives that he was in possession of the flute and that he purchased the flute from an unknown male. The individual then turned over the flute to detectives so that it could be returned to its rightful owner. It was then determined that the individual was a taxi cab driver who was driving a cab the day that the flute was reported missing.

NBC News in Boston spoke to the rightful owner after she received her instrument back from the police. Heidi Slyker was thrilled to have it back. She was in grad school in Cambridge for flute performance when she lost the flute in a cab after performing at a piano bar, she said. "I felt like I lost a limb, you could say, because it was like a part of me. I know that sounds a little dramatic, but I played it all growing up. It took me through high school and college," Slyker said.

They said they plan to seek a complaint of receiving stolen goods against the taxi driver, who wasn't identified, in Boston Municipal Court.