Snatched $14,000 Violin Resurfaces in $10 Street Sale

A $14,000 Italian violin stolen from a free-lance musician last fall resurfaced in a $10 street transaction and has been reunited with its owner, police said.

Police were able to return the 78-year-old Rodolfo Fredi violin to Dana Goode-Veistrup, 32, Sunday night because a man bought the violin on the street and turned it over to police.

A thief snatched the violin from Goode-Veistrup, a free-lance musician, outside her home Sept. 29. In a futile effort to keep her violin, she clung to the thief’s car as it sped away, suffering severe cuts and bruises that required hospitalization.

Police said Craig Taylor, 27, told them that he bought the violin from a man who approached him on the street. Taylor said the man had been asking $20 but was unable to sell it and settled for $10.