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Chairs taken from outside couple's home returned refurbished

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Dec. 30 (UPI) -- A New Mexico couple who thought a pair of old dining chairs had been stolen from outside their home returned from a weekend trip to find the "thief" had returned the chairs with a fresh coat of paint and new upholstery.

University of New Mexico student Conrad Duran said he spotted the two chairs left at the side of the curb on Christmas Eve and decided to take them home to try to fix them up for use inside the Albuquerque home he shares with his girlfriend, Andrea.

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"I just grabbed them and left them outside of my garage door which is really not that close to the curb, then I had to go to work," Duran told KRQE-TV.

Duran said he was dismayed to return home from his double shift to find the chairs had been stolen.

"I've gotten a few items stolen from me over the years living here, ever since I moved here," Duran said. "It's one of those things where you come to terms with it."

Duran said he and Andrea were shocked when they returned from visiting family during the weekend to find the chairs had returned to their porch with a new coat of paint and new upholstery.

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"I thought they had been stolen and lo and behold, they had just taken them, redid them, and returned them as a Christmas gift or something like that," Duran said. "Now they just look absolutely beautiful."

Duran said there was an anonymous note on one of the chairs about doing good for others.

Another case of suspected theft had an unexpectedly happy ending earlier this month, when Tommy Cook of Virginia was reunited with his long-lost 1969 Camaro.

Cook said the Camaro was stolen from his auto repair lot in Woodbridge in 2003, and there were no developments in the investigation until Cook himself spotted the car in a Maryland auto shop while looking over another Camaro a friend was considering for purchase.

Cook said the car is in better shape now than it was when it was stolen -- it now has an engine.

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