A Guelph woman was astonished to be reunited with her purse after it was stolen from her car – seven years later.
Sarah Mainguy was walking her dog in the dog park off Kortright Road West, and left her purse in her car, which was parked in the gravel parking lot.
She returned to find her car windows smashed, and her purse gone.
“I never thought I’d see it again,” she said.
That is, until James Baldassi contacted her last week.
Baldassi lives near the dog park on Shadybrook Crescent.
He and his wife grow a large garden on their property, which borders the naturalized area. Last week, he was pulling some weeds near the edge of their garden and decided since he was out, he might as well go for a walk to enjoy the sunny day.
As he was walking, he noticed something covered in moss, tucked between some rocks.
It was a brown leather purse, and had clearly been there for a long time.
He brought it home and emptied the contents, finding lipstick, some keys, some USB sticks and a name tag that read 'Sarah Mainguy.'
After Google searching her name, he found the owner of the bag, and she came by to pick it up a few days later, telling Baldassi she was “astonished” that he found it and thanking him for reaching out.
“It was quite an extraordinary experience,” he said.
Mainguy noted the USB sticks were "still in good shape," but she was most excited to get back a pin from a visit to Point Pelee National Park during the bird migration season, which commemorated seeing over 100 species of birds.
Baldassi said he wants people to know “you can recover stolen goods if you search long and hard enough,” and reminds people not to leave valuables in their car.
This was the second time Mainguy’s car has been broken into in that parking spot; the contents of the first break-in were never returned.
“You’re cursing yourself, thinking about being more careful,” she said about finding her car broken into.
Mainguy still walks her dog there, but leaves her purse at home.
While her brown leather purse is in “pretty rough shape,” she’s thinking about trying to refurbish it.
“It has moss growing on it, so it may not be salvageable,” she said. “But I liked it. It was a nice purse. I might try to bring it back to life.”
