EXCLUSIVE: 89-year-old Asian woman robbed of priceless mementos while moving in Oakland

ByDion Lim KGO logo

Wednesday, June 2, 2021

EXCLUSIVE: Older Asian woman robbed while moving in Oakland

An 89-year-old Asian woman was robbed of her personal sentimental belongings while moving in Oakland, Calif. on Monday.

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- A nearly 90-year-old Asian woman was robbed of priceless personal mementos while she was moving out of her Oakland apartment building on Memorial Day.

She spoke exclusively with ABC7 News Anchor Dion Lim about the brazen theft.

"I don't think the things have any value to her," said Zhu. "I hope she can turn them back to me."

A photo shows 89-year-old Jane Zhu sitting on the only remaining box of her belongings her son and grandsons were about to load into their car Monday afternoon.

But before her family could arrive at the curb, a woman drove up suddenly, and silently started loading at least three of her moving boxes into the car.

"I didn't think something like this would happen suddenly," said Zhu. "My husband passed away. Everything, the books, the photos, everything, that's very precious to me."

One belonging is a priceless Chinese-English dictionary Mrs. Zhu and other professors worked on for 14 years in China, which she then used to teach young people English.

"I don't like to blame people," said Zhu. "I say 'god bless us.' I would say that to her. I hope she can return that to me."

She even pleaded with the thief to not take the items.

"I said 'don't take that! That has no value, that's only my family history, documents photos and books,'" said Zhu. "It's precious to me, but not precious to you. Don't take it."

Another older neighbor who rushed out to help Mrs. Zhu said she was followed into the apartment building by the thief and knocked to the ground. She sustained an injury from the fall.

Zhu was not hurt, but says she can't sleep at night. She hopes someone will see her dictionary and photos and return them.

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