LEMON GROVE, Calif. (KGTV) - Estelle Green is 98-years-old and she walks her Lemon Grove neighborhood every day.
“To keep my energy up because of my age,” Green said.
On Thursday afternoon, she said a car pulled up to her.
Green said she thought it was one of her neighbors before an unknown man and woman jumped out of the car.
“She called me Momma all the time," Green said. She put the scarf around my neck and hugged me."
Estelle said the woman walked away but came back to hug her again.
During the interaction, she lost her cherished cross necklace.
“I know that she took it and that was part of hugging that she was doing to me,” Green said. “At that point, I started to realize that, you know, it was a robbery.”
A piece of jewelry her late husband got her as a present decades ago.
“And I loved this cross. And so for the following Christmas, my husband worked with my niece and had it bought and sent to him so he could give it to me for Christmas,” Green said
That’s not all the suspects tried to take from Green.
“I was standing all the time by the driver and he said give me your left hand," she said. I realized by that time of course what was happening, and I said you’re not taking my wedding ring.”
A ring that has a special place in her heart.
“This would’ve been my 75th wedding anniversary and it was a keepsake I wanted forever," Green said. And I didn’t want to give it up."
Estelle and her family told ABC 10News after the suspects failed to get the rings, they drove off.
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said this incident is under investigation and doesn’t have a suspect description at this time. The Department said that the car was described to deputies from the Lemon Grove Substation as a grey sedan.
Green, who was thankfully unharmed, is now a little uneasy now about going for her daily walk.
Her family is wondering why someone would be so brazen to do this to her.
“I can’t believe that somebody would stop and see somebody who’s elderly with a walker on her own street and just be some blatantly disrespectful to just walk up and take something from her,” Lana Patrick, Green’s granddaughter, said.
Green's message to whoever took her cherished necklace is simple.
“Mind your own business," she said. "Leave me alone."
If anyone has information on this incident, call the San Diego County Sheriff's Department at 858-565-5200.
