Found in wall.....Loaded too...After 70 years.

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ischia

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Friend told of contractor recently finding a loaded .38 SPL(S&W or Colt) during a home remodel. He was working on the job at the time so more that one person knows about the find for sure. It is a SPD marked(police issue?) loaded,one round fired, case not removed. The contractor researched previous owners of the home and found that in 1948 it was owned by a SPD detective who's wife suddenly disappeared back then. The contractor did not tell the home owner. Yes, I would call that theft. What would you do?

Ischia
 
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Would you turn the contractor in then? My friend could be fired and at close to retirement not very likely to get another job at his age. I say let the local press have the story. It would do far more good will for the contractor's business rating that any cash value of the revolver. Great story though.

Ischia
 
That's theft, of a firearm. Any items discovered by workers during home construction are property of the homeowner. Found firearms are a special category that are usually required to be turned over to local PD. But if no legitimate owner can be found or it is found to not be evidence in a crime, it becomes property of the homeowner.

Also, as already stated. It could be evidence to a crime.
 
The value of an old PD surplus revolver is not near that of solving the loss of a persons life - if that indeed is what happened. Turning it into the local PD and hypothesizing about the former owner and the mystery of his disappearing wife could result in a half century old cold case being solved. Now that is a story with some value!!
 
Contractors working on property owned by others have a fundamental duty to preserve and protect that property on behalf of the owners. Anything found on the property is owned by the property owners, period. The contractor was allowed entry to the property for the purposes spelled out in the contractual agreement, and no other purposes. Taking the revolver was a theft, and since the theft occurred within a dwelling there might also be a charge of burglary (depending on state laws; here in Colorado the law specifies that entering into or remaining upon the property of another for the purpose of committing a crime other than trespass can be construed as burglary).

Regardless, the contractor is certainly exposed to possibly serious criminal charges, and since he has told at least one other person about the incident it will only become increasingly likely that everything will come to light.

Best recommendation I can offer is for the contractor to explain everything to the property owner and return the revolver to that owner, then cooperate fully with the property owner's wishes on any reporting to be done to authorities.
 
Wow.. there a lots of bear traps in this one. IMHO I'd stay away, period. Gee made for TV from the pages of the forum.
 
A little of topic but close enough. ...locally we had an unsolved disappearance of a woman. The husband was a suspect but nothing could be proven. After he died, the house was being renovated and her body was discovered in a false wall.

The contractor called the police.

In Cluttered Home, a Dark Secret 3 Decades Old - The New York Times
 
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