So many people have wondered about the bike story. This is a quick description of what happened:
Saturday morning, August 8th, we noticed that our Giant Mountain bike was missing. Christopher had ridden the bike last on Wednesday evening August 5th, so we knew that the bike had been stolen between late Wednesday and Early Saturday. On Thursday around 2:00pm we had blinds installed, they are custom blinds for our windows, they came in small boxes. The installers brought several small boxes through the front door, and used a hand drill to install (they didn’t need any large working space, and took nothing in and out of the garage). About the same time as the blind installers pulled up, my three boys left on their bikes for a bike ride leaving the garage open.
On Saturday when we noticed the bike missing we immediately called the Boise Police department to file a report. We began thinking that we should check Craigslist, Ebay and Pawn Shops in Boise. I pulled up Craigslist (http://boise.craigslist.org/bik/1309552746.html) where I found a bike that perfectly matched the one that was stolen from us. It was posted on Thursday at 3:00 pm.
I called the phone number on the listing and talked to the gentleman about seeing the bike. I asked where he had purchased the bike and he said that he had purchased it at REI. After hanging up, I called REI and asked if they sold the brand Giant. The salesman said, No that they did not. I then asked if they had ever sold the Giant brand and he said not to his knowledge. A few minutes later I called the Craigslist gentleman back to tell him that I was interested in the bike, I asked the color and if I could come see it. He said that the bike was in his girlfriend’s car and that she was at the Mall and he was headed to Ann Morrison Park for a Brewery Festival. He told me that he would call me later.
In the meantime, I decided to do some snooping so I plugged his number into a reverse call look up site, paid the $15 and found out the name of who the cell phone was registered to and known addresses. One of the known addresses was a block away from our house. We began to be very suspicious and called the police back and gave him his name and the information that we had. The police told us that he had 3 warrants for his arrest and that we were should tell dispatch this if and when he called back to schedule a time for us to look at the bike.
When the suspect called back around 6:30 we set up a meeting at Baggley Park for 7:20. At around 7:25 I called the suspect and told him that I was at the park. He said he was on the way. My husband was in the car talking to the police and I was sitting on the swings waiting for him. I had a friend with me. When he wheeled the bike up, I immediately recognized it as ours because it was the exact make, model, and color as ours . And because it had a water bottle attached to the handle bars, and I haven’t seen that very often on a bike.
We made small talk for a few minutes. I asked about the bike and if it was a good bike. He said that his Dad had just pulled out the receipt from REI and that he had paid $798 or $758 ( I can’t remember the exact amount) for the bike less than a year ago. He told me that he recently had moved here from Wenatchee and that in Wenatchee everyone rides Mountain Bikes, but here in Boise to fit in, you need a road bike and that is why he was selling it. When the police surrounded us, I left and waited in the parking lot for the police to come and take our statement.
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