Looters rob Fort McMurray woman of wedding ring, family heirlooms

Cecilia Park's home survived the Fort McMurray wildfire, but she says a little piece of her heart has been shattered.

Her home in the south-end neighbourhood of Gregoire was looted days after more than 90,000 peopleevacuatedthe city.

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A jewelry box full of irreplaceable family heirlooms wasransacked in the break-in.

"Everything from my whole life is in that box," Park said.

Her diamond-encrusted wedding bands anda daughter's pride ring her father had given her as a little girl are gone. So was her husband's watch, which once belonged to his late father,and his grandfather's emerald cufflinks, which had been passed down through the family for nearly100 years.

She never expects to see any of the mementos again.

I know it's just material things, and some people lost everything, but it still hurts.- Cecilia Park

"I couldn't believe it. I thought that everybody had left Fort McMurray, and just couldn't understand why somebody could do something like that. I don't know, maybe I'm naive," Park said.

"I know it's just material things, and some people lost everything, but it still hurts."

When the evacuation orders were issued on May 3, Park and her husband were at their home on Grandview Crescent, where they've lived for almost10 years.

"People were driving through our street, blowing their horns and screaming and telling everyone to get out, and you could hear the propane tanks exploding from Centennial Park," Park said.

"It was terrifying, so the jewelry was the last thing on my mind."

In the panic of the evacuation, Park never dead-bolted the door. The thought of looters didn'tcrossher mind, until images of security cameras still surveying the streets of FortMcMurraystarting cropping up on social media.

"We had seen pictures on Facebook[from the security cameras]of people climbing in windows, so I phoned the RCMP."

Park said a police officer who peered through the window of her propertycould see that tiny little boxes and drawers had been pulled out of her jewelry box and lay strewn across the bed.

"[The officer]got permission to go inside, and sure enough my jewelry box was laid out on the bed, all those little boxes, everything was taken from it."

Doubts valuables will ever be found

Days after the evacuation,RCMPsaid there was some indication of looting, but police insisted crime wasn't rampant in the community after the evacuation.

On Wednesday morning, Cpl. Laurel Scott said there had not yet been any reports during the day of people returning to the city and finding their homes had been broken into.

Scott said police are optimistic they won't find any further evidence of criminal activity that occurred while the city was evacuated.

"If people do find there has beensomethinggoing on intheirhouse,they can phone and we willinvestigateit."

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Park has been in contact with police, but remains skeptical that that her family heirlooms will ever be recovered.

Park thought her home insurance would cover the cost of the stolen items, but she was wrong. She estimates the items were worth up to $14,000, but she'll only be reimbursed $2,500.

"I'm not rich by any means but that won't even cover our wedding bands," she said.

As they fled the city the night of the evacuation, they assumed their house would be devoured by the flames. As they prepared to return home on Friday, Park remains grief-stricken over the loss of such sentimental items.

"The first thing I'm going to see when I go in are the boxes laid out on my bed, and I don't even know if they took anything else," she said.

"You grieve it all once, and then you end up having to grieve it again, and now you have to go back and face it.

"It's hard."