A Battle Ground woman has plastered flyers throughout town after a burglar stole her jewelry box, which was meaningful to her because it belonged to her late mother.
“It’s always been a huge part of my childhood and now my daughter’s childhood,” said Cher Bunkley, 41.
Bunkley and her boyfriend, Jacob Herzog, 26, went to bring her daughter lunch at Daybreak Middle School around 12:50 p.m. Friday. En route to the school, Bunkley realized she forgot her money pouch, so the couple returned to their home in the 300 block of Northwest 19th Avenue about 10 minutes later.
That evening, the couple noticed the back door of the house was open and that the jewelry box was missing, along with a slice of pizza from the kitchen table. The burglar evidently bypassed electronics and other valuables in the house.
Herzog said they left the house unlocked while they headed to the middle school. The couple’s three dogs were in the home.
“We thought it was fairly brazen that whoever came into the house just walked in,” Herzog said.
The jewelry box contained mostly sentimental items, among them baby pictures, turquoise earrings from a cousin who died and turtle figurines from Bunkley’s best friend.
The box itself is the most precious, Bunkley said; Herzog found similar jewelry boxes selling online for $100.
The jewelry box was a gift from Bunkley’s father to her mother on their first wedding anniversary. When opened, the box plays “Sukiyaki (It’s All Because of You).”
Bunkley’s mother died Feb. 16. This year would have marked her parents’ 50th year of marriage.
“I was so grateful I had (the jewelry box) when she passed,” Bunkley said. “It was nice to look over and get that memory every day.”
As a reward for the box’s return, Bunkley is offering two dozen of the “best-tasting cupcakes you’ll ever have” and a small cash reward. She hopes someone will recognize the jewelry box and reply to the flyer, which says to contact Herzog at 360-606-7948 or tehherzog@gmail.com.
