Albuquerque woman carjacked outside of church

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A local musician recounts the chilling moment a man held a gun at her waist before taking her car and her violin.

The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said she was finishing practice with the Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church just before 10 p.m. last Monday.

“I just loaded my violin music into the backseat of the car, and I saw somebody coming towards me, and they were coming pretty fast,” she said. “So I thought maybe it was someone that knew me.”

The person turned out to be a stranger who wanted her keys.

“I kind of was thinking just ‘please don’t let this be happening. Please don’t do this,’ and then I looked full at him and he had a gun about waist high,” she said. “When I saw the gun, I just kind of felt myself just get — just kind of like, get — I don’t know, deflated, like, defeated, just like well,  ‘I guess I have to give this guy everything now.’ It was really, I just felt really helpless.”

She managed to run back to the church, completely shaken, as the masked man sped off in her 2015 Honda Accord.

“I was just totally freaked out, “ she said. “Once I got inside, it really registered with me what had just happened, and I just kind of started crying hysterically.”
               
The thief did not only get away with her car. She said he stole her credit cards, work ID badge, driver’s license, as well as her violin, case and bow. The equipment she lost was worth $8,000 in total.

After filing a police report, the woman said she called the shop where she bought the instrument, Roberston & Sons. Four days later, the shop called her back about a suspicious man and woman.

“They got to the shop, they backed into a spot, and they sat there in the car for like 45 minutes,” she said. “They finally got out of the car, got into the shop and tried to sell them the violin. They said that their mom had bought it at a garage sale, and they wanted to see if they could sell it or at least get an idea of what it was worth.”

The shop employees recognized the unique case, took the violin to the back and called police.

“I was able to confirm that the pictures and video they took were of my car, so they drove my car to the violin shop to sell them my violin,” the woman said. “I’ve been like hyper vigilant, and I’m so bummed because October is my favorite month. I love Halloween. I love fall. I love scary movies. I love all that stuff, and now it’s– I feel like that joy has been kind of taken from me, because it’s forever going to be associated with this thing where I got my car stolen.”

When the woman got her violin back, she said it was in perfect condition.

Her car is still is missing, and she is still waiting on the initial police report. A representative with the Albuquerque Police Department said the robbery unit is investigating this case.

Police encourage anyone with information on the man, woman or car in these images to call CrimeStoppers at 505-843-STOP.