The Chicago Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance in finding a violin that was worth $10,000 stolen on a CTA Blue Line train in the Loop.
The violin was taken on Friday, April 11 around 9 p.m. at the Clark and Lake Station. The instrument was inside a black case and has a distinctive wood grain finish on the back. It does not have a serial number because it was custom made, police said.
It is not the first time the theft of a rare violin has made the news in Chicago. In 2022, three instruments, including a violin from the 1700s, were stolen from a town home in the South Loop neighborhood. Minghuan Xu, who was using the violin on loan, previously told the Tribune that she was devastated by the theft. The violin was returned to her after a month-long search, thanks to the Chicago Police Department.
“I’m just so, so happy it’s back,” Xu told the Tribune then.
In a similar case, a 1986 Armin Barnett viola stolen in 1999 was reunited with its owner after nearly 20 years. The owner, Robin Horsemann, found the instrument at a violin store in Cleveland through a Google search and after a long dispute with the music store owner, Horsemann finally got her viola back. Horsemann described her reunion with the viola as if it were “a baby returning home after being gone to school.”
Anyone with information about the stolen violin can contact the police at 312-745-4447 or can submit an anonymous tip to CPDTip.com.
