Woman wants thieves to know what they took
They probably just looked like CDs to whoever stole them from Mary Kinney’s car.
Might bring a buck at a pawn shop.
But the case of CDs had belonged to her daughter, Meri.
Kinney didn’t always care for Meri’s music, but on bad days she’d put a disc in and think of her daughter.
It meant something to her.
So, too, did the inch-long gold cross —the one Meri gave her for Mother’s Day.
It was too big for Kinney’s taste, so Meri had worn it. They both were mothers, so they could share it, she remembers Meri saying.
When Meri died in Lincoln Sept. 11, 2001, at the age of 26, she wore it in her casket.
She’d had diabetes. Her blood sugar couldn’t be controlled, her mother said. Her kidneys failed. She lost her eyesight, and she was bedridden at the end.
“She died at home with me watching.”
Kinney saved the cross after the service. She didn’t wear it, but kept it close to remind her of her only daughter, who would have been 33 this month.
Kinney tucked the cross away in her little red Dodge Neon.
“I felt like it was my own little angel.”
Just before 8 a.m. Wednesday, Kinney could tell something was wrong when she left her apartment at 4401 S. 27th St., for work at Haven Manor, where she’s the activities supervisor.
She’d left her car unlocked, thinking thieves would move on if they couldn’t see anything of value inside.
But when she opened its door, wires spilled from a hole where her stereo had been.
The visor was pulled down.
The CDs gone.
When Kinney talked to police, she hadn’t yet discovered the cross was missing, too.
An officer came out, lifted fingerprints from Kinney’s car and sympathized with her.
Thieves who steal from cars don’t think about what it means to the people they steal from, he told her.
Kinney would have preferred to find her car gone — and the cross and CDs left behind.
Now she hopes someone saw something that could help her get them back.
But she’s doubtful.
“I just want them to see what they did and what it meant,” Kinney said.
Maybe it will make them think before they do it again, she said.
“If it helps even one other person, then it was all worth it.”
Reach Lori Pilger at 473-7237 or lpilger@journalstar.com.
Might bring a buck at a pawn shop.
But the case of CDs had belonged to her daughter, Meri.
Kinney didn’t always care for Meri’s music, but on bad days she’d put a disc in and think of her daughter.
It meant something to her.
So, too, did the inch-long gold cross —the one Meri gave her for Mother’s Day.
It was too big for Kinney’s taste, so Meri had worn it. They both were mothers, so they could share it, she remembers Meri saying.
When Meri died in Lincoln Sept. 11, 2001, at the age of 26, she wore it in her casket.
She’d had diabetes. Her blood sugar couldn’t be controlled, her mother said. Her kidneys failed. She lost her eyesight, and she was bedridden at the end.
“She died at home with me watching.”
Kinney saved the cross after the service. She didn’t wear it, but kept it close to remind her of her only daughter, who would have been 33 this month.
Kinney tucked the cross away in her little red Dodge Neon.
“I felt like it was my own little angel.”
Just before 8 a.m. Wednesday, Kinney could tell something was wrong when she left her apartment at 4401 S. 27th St., for work at Haven Manor, where she’s the activities supervisor.
She’d left her car unlocked, thinking thieves would move on if they couldn’t see anything of value inside.
But when she opened its door, wires spilled from a hole where her stereo had been.
The visor was pulled down.
The CDs gone.
When Kinney talked to police, she hadn’t yet discovered the cross was missing, too.
An officer came out, lifted fingerprints from Kinney’s car and sympathized with her.
Thieves who steal from cars don’t think about what it means to the people they steal from, he told her.
Kinney would have preferred to find her car gone — and the cross and CDs left behind.
Now she hopes someone saw something that could help her get them back.
But she’s doubtful.
“I just want them to see what they did and what it meant,” Kinney said.
Maybe it will make them think before they do it again, she said.
“If it helps even one other person, then it was all worth it.”
Reach Lori Pilger at 473-7237 or lpilger@journalstar.com.
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