In 2010, Kristi Crago was in California helping her younger sister go through chemotherapy. While she was there, her French horn was stolen.
Kristi thought she'd never see the instrument again. But, that changed.
“Initially, I thought it couldn’t be true. I took a look at the picture thinking it couldn’t be mine, but the picture was familiar, the case was familiar, the horn was familiar and it was at that moment I began to freak out,” says Kristi.
A few months ago, Kristi posted a message on Facebook about her stolen instrument. Someone saw the post and also saw the instrument on Craigslist.
That person, from New York, then worked with Kristi's sister and police in Orange County to set up a sting to get the French horn back to its rightful owner.
The post was asking for $8,500 which was a red flag because a Daniel Rauch horn is worth much more.
"Probably about a $20,000 instrument. He retired so the value of his instrument is steady rising because there’s only a certain number of them," says Kristi. "The horn community, huge thank you. Anyone of them could have taken it for their own and made a lot of money or gotten themselves a really nice horn for very cheap, but instead they all rallied around us waiting for it to be put back in my hands.”
