Musician Adam Young, 23, has a cello that has been a part of his life for 12 years. He got it back Wednesday morning after it had been stolen from his locker at the Conservatory of Music.
"I am more shocked than when it was stolen from me," said Young.
The cello is valued at $11,000, but for Young it is priceless.
"The victim was devastated. The best course we had was to take the story and go viral with it," said San Francisco Police Insp. Brian Danker.
So that is what Danker did. He released a security video of a couple suspected of grabbing the cello.
"Two suspects were walking around the building and we caught them on video. They wondered up into the area where just students should be, they found an unlocked locker, and they walked out with the cello." Said Danker.
"I didn't recognize the people in the video, but many of my friends helped publicize. They didn't recognize them either," said Young.
Danker says the viral payoff came when the case was found around midnight Tuesday night, two blocks away at the stage door of the opera house. It was given to Ophelia Butler who is in charge of lost and found.
"She is ironically a cello player and she was watching the news and she saw the story and she put two and two together," said Danker.
The cello has been returned. Police are still looking for the suspects. For Young, it is back to performing solo or with the Cello Street Quartet and practicing at least four hours a day.
"I will always keep my cello in my sight," said Young.
And there is now a lock on his locker.
With Young and his cello safely reunited, there is a new edict from the Conservatory of Music that every storage locker must have a lock.
