Missing AirPods lead to stash of stolen goods, priceless reunion

LAWRENCE, Kan. (KCTV) - When Lawrence Police got a call on Monday about a stolen set of AirPods, they had no idea it would lead them to a stash of stolen goods so vast it took them two days to inventory.

“Several hundred items of property have been recovered so far,” said Lawrence Police Detective Evan Curtis.

That discovery brought tears to one man’s eyes, reunited with something that means the world to him.

OUTLAW JAKE

You can find Jake Lickteig performing at Lawrence’s Northside Social the first Sunday of every month as Outlaw Jake. The Americana-style singer-songwriter never named his guitar like Willie Nelson did with his trusty Trigger, but the custom-modified Simon and Patrick he plays on definitely has a personality.

Asked what made it so special to him, he responded, “Why are rainbows good?”

That response tells you a little bit about Outlaw Jake’s personality. It’s about finding a match and he had found that.

“You kind of bond with something and it becomes, you know, part of you,” Lickteig mused. “I just started playing songs on it until it became my guitar. It’s got all my pick marks in it. There’s not another one in existence.”

He thought he’d never see it again. Wiped out after playing, he left it in his car on Saturday. On Sunday, it was gone. He posted photos on social media and filled out paperwork at pawn shops in case someone came in with it. He had just about accepted he’d never find it when Lawrence Police called late Monday afternoon to say they had his prized performance partner.

“I mean, I’m not that into material possessions, but it’s a little more than that, so, I mean, I was watery-eyed,” Lickteig said of the moment. “It was a huge sigh of relief.”

HUNDREDS OF ITEMS RECOVERED

What led Lawrence police to his guitar and a stash of other stolen items was a pair of missing AirPods, Apple’s wireless ear buds.

They got a call for service on Monday from a man whose car had been broken into the night before. He told police he’d used Apple’s FindMy app to track his AirBuds. It showed them at a Motel 6 in North Lawrence.

He accompanied police to the motel and used the app to sound the tone on the AirPods case. They walked past room after room until they could hear the tone coming from a specific room.

Inside, they found everything under the sun, or at least everything someone might leave in a car.

“If it wasn’t bolted down, they took it,” Curtis said.

There were pricey things like laptops, tablets and tools along with things like charging cables and suction cup phone holders taken off dashboards. They sorted things by category and collected a vast assortment of keys.

“I’ve never found that many keys before,” Curtis said. “One gentleman we did contact out of Topeka was really grateful because it was the only set of keys to his truck and he didn’t want to pay to get that re-keyed,” Curtis said.

He had a head start finding the owners because they found stolen IDs mixed in, 34 of them, ranging from shopper loyalty cards to officials forms of identification.

“These are IDs, social security cards and passports that people are leaving in their vehicles,” Curtis said, “which we recommend not doing.”

The man and woman arrested have ties to Lawrence, Topeka and Kansas City, Curtis said, with no official permanent address. They’ve found victims in Lawrence and Topeka and expect there may be some in Kansas City as well.

So far, police have contacted seven theft victims from Lawrence and Topeka and returned items to them.

“We still have a good 30 or so to go,” Curtis said.

For now, they ask that you don’t contact them. They will contact you. They will put the word out on their Facebook page after they track down those remaining victims.

DIGITAL SMARTS, ANALOG APPRECIATION

Curtis is grateful for the tech savvy smarts of the young man whose AirPods were stolen. They have tracking technology of their own, he said, but nothing so quick. He’s equally grateful that he called police rather than go on his own.

Lickteig is more of an analog guy, but he sure is glad someone’s digital smarts brought his songwriting sidekick back into his life.

It was returned to him just in time for a gig at the Americana Music Academy’s Downtown Lawrence Music Crawl on Saturday. He’ll be performing from 1:30-2:30 p.m. at Sinkers Lounge.

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