LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – A Lake County woman was in tears Tuesday after she said thieves broke into her unincorporated Eustis home and stole a jewelry box with her and her late husband's wedding rings inside.
"They could have taken everything in my house, I just wish they would have not have taken the wedding bands, because that's the one thing I have left and I don't have that anymore and I don't have him," Holly Montz said crying Tuesday afternoon.
Montz' husband, Matt, died of cancer in August at just 35 years old.
"We tried everything to help heal him and it just didn't work out," she said. "My year has not been good, it's been terrible."
And it didn't get any better after the break-in. Montz said it happened between 7:55 a.m. and 8:55 a.m. That's when she got a call from her security company that her alarm was going off. Montz called her brother-in-law to check on the home, and that's when he discovered the back screen door was ripped open.
"They broke the lock on it and it was opened," Montz said.
Inside, she said the thieves got away with her (late) husband's PlayStation 4 that was in the living room, then walked past her late husband's own urn into the bedroom, where she says they stole some old wallets and the jewelry box with her engagement ring, wedding band and his wedding band inside.
"I put them in there so I can see them every day and I just couldn't put them on anymore," Montz said the pain of his loss on her finger was just too much. "It represented our love, our marriage, our family, and they took it."
Now she's hoping to get the rings back and hoping whoever took them hears this message.
"I don't have a lot of money, but I would have done anything to help you, please please please return those rings, there is no money in the world that could replace them," Montz said.
Lake County sheriff's deputies responded and took fingerprints and pictures. Detectives are also combing through pawn shops hoping the rings pop up. If you have any information on who may have taken the rings, or maybe have seen them around, call Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS immediately.