I need your help as I propose to launch the first social media manhunt.  Someone broke into the apartment I share with my fiancée, in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn over the weekend. They stole electronics mostly, including the laptop containing her unfinished master’s thesis and years and years of pictures. Yes, we should have backed up this data. But we didn’t and that’s the unfortunate fact. Lesson learned. But a learned lesson doesn’t bring back thousands of photos and other data.
I came back home on Sunday night to discover that the window had been opened by the fire escape and that all of our things had been rifled through. I rushed immediately to the hiding place where her engagement ring was hidden (she didn’t take it out of town with her) and was relived to find it where I left it. What was missing was what, apparently, one person could carry out. The burglar took a canvas tote bag of mine that had my iPod in it and packed into it the rest of the goods that were stolen: a Playstation 3, a Wii, their controllers, and my fiancee’s Mac PowerBook laptop.
They are just things, things that can be replaced. However, on the computer are things that cannot be replaced with any amount of money. These are the things we want back more than anything else. It could have been a lot worse. There were a lot of our belongings that could have been taken that weren’t. Cameras, a TV, stereo, etc. I count us fairly lucky all in all, but we should not take this lying down.
Why should you want to help? I’m not sure. Maybe you want to help us out of the goodness of your heart. Maybe you want to see if this social experiment can work. Maybe you want a reward. Maybe we stop this from happening to our neighborhood. For whatever reason, I hope you can help.
Let’s get this message in front of anyone you know who lives in Brooklyn or the surrounding areas. The computer could have made its way to Queens or Manhattan, so let’s just get people to see this.
Here’s what we’re looking for: Apple Macintosh PowerBook G4 Aluminium with a 15″ screen and a 1.25GHz PowerPC G4 processor. The serial number is V73394FSNRZ It’s the September 16, 2003 version. It’s got some cosmetic damage on the outside corners, small dents and scratches. The screen has some lighter-colored splotchyness to it. There are probably around 10-15 light splotches on the screen. The power adapter was not taken but if there is one with it it probably has to be jiggled and finessed to keep the green charging light activated. The battery life is abysmal. It may be being carried in a canvas tote bag with WNYC printed on it in red. If it is on, the desktop background will have a comical picture of a woman wearing a head-scarf with various funny things floating in the sky behind her tiled on the screen.
There are so many people online that I think we have a good chance of getting this message in front of someone who has the chance of coming into contact with this computer. I believe that the thief intends to sell the computer to the first person that can be found who wants to buy it at a cut-rate. Perhaps it’s already been sold. Perhaps someone on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, or some other network already has the computer in their possession. Perhaps someone online will see the computer for sale on some street corner. We have a lot of eyes and ears and typing fingers. Maybe we can retrieve this special information. If it can return a camera to its owner, maybe it can return information and photos to their owner as well.
If you have this computer and have come into ownership by any means whatsoever, I will be happy to arrange to meet you and get it back, no questions asked. Please, let your conscience get the better of you.
Please email me at hewins@gmail.com if you have any information leading to the recovery of the data on this computer or the computer itself.
Thanks, and let’s see if we can do this!
Perhaps this can work! One time I left my wallet with $100 in it at the washington mutual ATM on St. Marks and 2nd avenue. I realized I was missing my wallet about 30 minutes later and went back in hopes of retrieving any part of it. The wallet was there! It had been passed through the hands of several strangers who each waited a few minutes to see if I would return and then gave it to someone else to watch for a few minutes. Everything was still there, even the money! I really appreciated the amazing kindness of those New Yorkers!
On another note, I really should have had everything backed up and have learned my lesson. I feel pretty dumb about not doing that because it would have been very easy.
<> I will do my part and I’m incredibly sad that you two wonderful folks are going through this.
I’ll keep my eyes open and really wish you the best of luck with this. I know how much it sucks to lose data from personal experience and “I know I should have backed that up” but that’s besides the point… I really do hope it is recovered speedily.
Obviously I wish you’d been a client of ours before this happened, as we’d have recovered all your data by now (and probably the laptop too). Regardless of that, as you state, what’s done is done. Please mention the serial number of the laptop if you can. Also, be sure to start checking with all vendors of all networked apps that you may have had, such as email, Skype, IM, and websites that are guarded by a login. Your goal is to see if any vendor can detect a login under your ID since the theft, and what IP address it came via. From there, you’re on to something. Good luck!
I saw a story in the NYT last year about a woman who had her powerbook stolen. She was able remotely to activate the camera in the laptop, which took a photo of the thieves. She showed the photo to the police, and they were able to get her laptop back. Research this story, and then go to the nearest Apple store and ask one of the geeks for any advice they might have. The camera trick might not work for you, but there may be a way to determine the IP address (if you had internet access from your home, your service provide should have a record of your IP address) and send a message to that machine.
my friend’s apt was broken into in williamsburg a couple years ago and when she went to the deli on her corner visibly upset over the loss of irreplaceable jewelry of her grandmothers, one of the guys that hung out there that she had become friendly with over time told her not to worry and within a few days got it back for her. shady? maybe. but never hurts to ask around the neighborhood. this was on s 2nd and bedford if you’re looking for a place to start. good luck!
Good luck with this Dan. If it turns up in Morocco, I will let you know.
Greqt site. Nice pics.
Vago
UPDATE!
The detectives were able to match the fingerprints they got after the break-in with a known criminal! It turns out that our apartment was burglarized by an 18 year old boy who lives in Bushwick and has a history of criminal activities. The detectives came over last week and asked us to confirm that we did not know this boy (they had a picture from a previous arrest). They left our house with plans to arrest him. The sad thing is that this kid will likely just end up in a cycle of criminal activity and incarceration. Dan – we should follow up with the detectives!