SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - A heartbroken woman is making a plea for tips after hundreds of family heirlooms were stolen out of her Allied Gardens home.
Last Friday afternoon, Mary Anne Madruga got a wrenching call from her husband.
"Just a moment of disbelief and shock. Am I really hearing what I think I'm hearing?" said Madruga.
During a two-and-a-half-hour window when nobody was home, somebody had pried open a back window and made off with hundreds of pieces of jewelry, silver and coins, including more than a hundred pieces of jewelry belonging to her mother, who died of cancer.
MAP: Track crime in your neighborhood
"On the last birthday of mine before she passed, she gave me a gold and diamond necklace ... and that piece really held a special meaning for me," said Madruga.
But perhaps the most painful loss: the more than 10 pieces her artist father - who has also passed - made for her mother.
A neighbor's surveillance camera captured him walking up to her home empty-handed. 25 minutes later, he's spotted again, toting a stuffed pillowcase Madruga says belongs to her.
"It just leaves a hole ... a hole in my heart ... items with special meaning I'm not going to see again," said Madruga.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crimestoppers at 888-580-8477.
