'It's like another death': Byron theft leaves family pleading for stolen memories back

Police reported crimes are on the rise in London, and it's a reality that oneLondon family is all too aware of.

When they heard that their house had been broken into, it wasn't the stolen property that made it devastating for Tanja Zientara and Matt Greeson,but the pricelessmemories of their late son on a laptop, hard drive and camcorder.

They werethe few remaining possessions that the couple had of their late son Nick, holding countless memories including photos, videos, and recordings of themusic that he loved to create.

Nick passed away from cancerin September, 2018 at the age of 23.

Hearing the news

The couple had been driving from London toKelowona, B.C. to spread some ofNick'sashes in a last tribute to him.However, on their second day on the road, they got word of the break-in.

Having stopped at a McDonald's for a break, Greeson checked his email and saw that a neighbour had messaged him.

"It basically said 'Hey Matt, yourhouse has been broken into. I called the cops, and they're going to come ... everything appears to be reasonably intact but there's broken glass everywhere,'" he said.

The neighbour had quicklychecked to see if anything was stolen.They weren't able to verify if everything was safe, but did notice that one thing was missing.

Alaptop on the dining room table had been taken thatbelonged to Nick.

While Greeson had backed up everything from their son's computer onto a hard drive, there was no way to tell if it had been left behind or also taken.

But just hearing that a piece of their son's life was gone,was devastating.

"I was thinking 'oh my god, please don't have taken our pictures, please don't have taken anything from our computer,'"said Zientara.

The ride back to London was especially emotional, as the couple wondered what they would come home to.

"Going back, my stomach was in knots. I was just crossing my fingers like 'please, please, please don't have taken anything related to Nick's pictures, photos, laptopor his phone,'" said Zientara.

The couple's other son had been in the house and told his parents that he didn't noticeanything else was taken. When they arrived home, Greeson and Zientararealizedtheir worst fears.

"When I got in the house, I got upstairs and Matt followed. He said 'oh no,it's gone. The hard drive is gone,' I said 'what?'" said Zientara.

Everything had been on that hard drive. All the family videos, all the stuff from Nick's laptop and cell phone. It was all gone.

While manyof Nick's things had been backed up on Google, it was the items from the laptop that hurt the most. While they had the chance to back it up, they hadn't yet been able to look through his computer.

"I lost my mind because I was desperate to see what he left there. Kids today, a lot of the stuff is on computer and in these files and what have you ... it was almost like another death for me," said Zientara.

"That's all I have left to hold onto my sonand someone came and took that from me."

Property crimes on the rise

Roxanne Beaubien, a spokesperson for the London police, saysreports ofbreak and enters are part ofthe rise in police-reported crime.

"That is primarily due to increases in break and enters ... and the other area we saw a significant increase was frauds," she said.

• Police reported crime in London climbs 7 per cent: Stats Canada

Anyone who finds their property has been stolencan report it to London police. They can request to have an officer come on scene, who will be dispatched as quickly as possible.But when it comes to recovering property, it can be tricky.

"Clearing property crimes can be a challenge," Beaubiensaid.

For Greeson and Zientara, they understand the situation that property can be hard to track down.

"For the police, they're putting out much bigger fires than us," said Greeson. "Thiswas nothing that could be called grand theft. This hard drive ... Ipaid $60 for it four years ago, I'm sure it was worth nothing."

But while the hard drive has no monetary value, it meantso much more for the family.

"We have to deal with the fact that his physical body is absent and there's nothing we can do about that. All we had left were those memories that we could cling to. Without those memories, it feels like he never existed at all," said Zientara.

The family is pleading with the person who took their hard drive to just return it. Even if it was dropped off anonymously, they don't care. All they want is their son's memories back.

"If you return our stuff, we'll be so grateful," said Greeson, "Please do the right thing. You have no idea how much this is worth to us."