found a stolen purse tonight. what to do w/ it?

[bwana devil]

while i was on a walk tonight, just one house down from mine i saw a backpack or a purse in the rain gutter under the street. i laid on my stomach and pulled it up and it turned out to be an oversized purse. looked through the wallets and there were plenty of empty slots, probably where the credit cards had been. the driver's license of the woman was still there along w/ a student ID, some information showing the woman was a veteran.

i tried to google her phone number but couldnt find her so i kept digging through what was left of her purse. found a long personal letter, either written to her or from her, i didnt read it, just far enough to see it was talking about "pulling away in this relationship", found an IHOP gift card, but no phone number. i did find a book w/ a lot personal phone numbers scribbled on them so i just called them. first one disconnected. second one, the woman answered and i tried best to explain why i was calling. the woman i called wouldnt admit to knowing her and kept acting strange. finally she said somewhat detached, "she was a coworker of mine and recently passed away."

i googled the woman's name and found her obituary. she died about 3 weeks ago. while she lived in austin, where i live, she died in the VA hospital several hours away. my wife says she noticed many receipts from the VA hospital in the purse.

should i call the police and turn it over to them? although what little i know points away from it, if the purse is linked to her death, the police should have this information.

should i call her family up and give it to them? if the police get the purse and all the belongings, it could sit in the police station indefinitely and her family could never get it. her family is listed in the obituary.

[TheBlueMonster]

damn, that's kinda creepy. I think you should just call the family directly.

[JMa]

why not give it to the cops and then call the family and tell them that you gave it to the cops?

[in48092]

call the cops first. no telling what her relatonship with her family was.

[bwana devil]

[ QUOTE ]
call the cops first. no telling what her relatonship with her family was.

[/ QUOTE ]

this crossed my mind also. maybe they dont even want it. maybe the family member i call isnt the executor and would just throw it away whereas the police have a better family contact.

[in48092]

yeah dude, this is a no brainer. call the fuzz.

[bwana devil]

[ QUOTE ]
why not give it to the cops and then call the family and tell them that you gave it to the cops?

[/ QUOTE ]

i suppose i could do that although that may set them up for some frustration if i told them there was property i had that i decided to turn over to the cops. not sure if i would want to call them and tell them that.

[RJT]

Bd,

This is an easy “call the cops” thing.

No offense, man, but I really hope you are posting this more as a trip report than actually needing to ask OOT’s advice.

Regards,

RJT

[Brainwalter]

[ QUOTE ]
Bd,

This is an easy “call the cops” thing.

No offense, man, but I really hope you are posting this more as a trip report than actually needing to ask OOT’s advice.

Regards,

RJT

[/ QUOTE ]

If you call the cops and turn in a dead person's purse you'll probably become a prime suspect in a murder investigation.

[szw]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Bd,

This is an easy “call the cops” thing.

No offense, man, but I really hope you are posting this more as a trip report than actually needing to ask OOT’s advice.

Regards,

RJT

[/ QUOTE ]

If you call the cops and turn in a dead person's purse you'll probably become a prime suspect in a murder investigation.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you really believe this?