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Grandmother's wedding rings stolen after husband dies from COVID
When an Ohio grandmother became the victim of a smash and grab car theft while visiting Houston, she lost more than her sense of security. The thief stole her wedding rings less than two months after she lost her husband to COVID. She is now on a desperate search to get them back.
HOUSTON - An Ohio grandmother became the victim of a smash and grab car burglary on a recent visit to Houston. The items stolen from her vehicle include her wedding rings, taken just two months after her husband died from COVID-19.
"I'm struggling to forgive these people, but yet, I want to forgive them, and I want to move on, but those rings meant the world to me," Amy Shed is hanging onto hope that what was stolen from her will be returned.
Her husband Albert Shed popped the question more than two decades ago after saving for an engagement ring of yellow gold with a central marquise diamond flanked by two smaller marquise cuts. Twelve round stones line the ring’s shoulders.
"We met at church. It was during Christmas, and he said it reminded him of the star of Bethlehem," says Shed.
Twenty years after they exchanged vows at their home church in Ohio, Albert died from COVID-19.
"We celebrated 20 years in October, and then he got sick in November," explains Shed.
"He ended up on a ventilator for about five days and then passed away in early December."
Still grieving, weeks later Shed came to Houston on a work trip, however, she is not allowed to wear her rings on the job.
"I just couldn't bear to take my rings off, so I left them on, and then, when I got down there I took them off and put them in my purse," she says.
On January 20, 2022, she made a quick stop into the Starbucks at 6001 Hillcroft St. at the Southwest freeway, leaving her purse in the car.
When she came out about five minutes later, her passenger side window was smashed. Her laptop, credit cards, and bag were gone.
"It was about 40 minutes into it. That's when I realized that my rings were in there," says Shed, wiping away tears.
After filing a police report, she returned home and started calling Houston pawnshops and businesses near the coffee shop, searching for surveillance of the theft.
"It just felt like I was losing him all over again," she says.
Shed says one of her credit cards was used at a Lowe’s on Beechnut St., and she is also trying to get a video of that transaction.
She is asking whoever has the rings to send them to Houston police, even anonymously, begging to have back the symbols of love Albert left behind.
"It means everything to me. I’d never take them off again," she says.