Thieves placed an electronic tracking device on a vehicle parked at the home of an Eden Prairie couple, waited until the coast was clear and stole a safe holding at least $500,000 worth of jewels and a stash of cash, according to police.
The Aug. 25 theft from the couple, who are in the jewelry business, was possibly months in the making and has investigators on the hunt for the perpetrators and the stolen items, police said Wednesday.
Although court records point to at least one possible suspect by name, "we have not made any arrests," police spokeswoman Kari Knoll said. "The case is still active and under investigation."
Here's how the heist went down, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in Hennepin County District Court that asks permission to access the email and phone data of the possible suspect:
The husband and wife, whose names are not included in the court filing, called police to report that a safe was missing from their attached garage, and that it contained $500,000 to $600,000 in jewels related to their business and $100,000 in cash.
They said they left their home near Hwy. 5 and Dell Road about noon in their minivan for lunch at a restaurant about a 15-minute drive away in Edina's 50th and France retail district.
When they left the restaurant, the couple saw they had a flat tire and hired an Uber driver for a ride home. They arrived to see their home had been burglarized.
A neighbor's security video recorded two people pull into the drive at the couple's residence while they were away and crawl under an SUV outside the home. The filing did not include why the pair was underneath the SUV, which was the victims' other vehicle.
