Summary: A Utah woman who served as a getaway driver in a jewelry store theft over the weekend decided to hide the evidence–by swallowing it.
Criminals will typically go to great lengths to conceal evidence, but Christina Schlegel’s determination to hide proof of a crime had Utah police stumped over Labor Day weekend.
The Huffington Post reports that Bryan Ford, 29, was perusing jewelry at a Zale’s jewelry store in Orem, Utah at University Mall on August 29, 2014. When he spotted a ring—with a price tag of several thousand dollars–that he admired, he decided he couldn’t leave the store without it. Ford made a mad dash for the exit with the ring in tow. He ran outside where Schlegel, 25, waited behind the wheel of their getaway car. An employee chased Ford, but was unable to catch him before he and Schlegel sped away.
The theft was reported to the authorities, and cops stopped the couple a short while later. Both Ford and Schlegel were arrested on suspicion of felony theft after Ford was identified by a Zale’s employee as the man who stole the ring.
However, the police faced one problem: where was the ring? Officers searched the vehicle and the route the couple had traveled in case the ring had been tossed out of the window, but the ring was still missing. The whereabouts of the ring would have gone unknown forever, but an x-ray of Schlegel’s stomach solved the mystery. Schlegel had swallowed the ring to hide the theft.
The Salt Lake Tribune added that officers must now patiently await nature to run its course before the evidence can be recovered.
Photo credit: sltrib.com