The theremin was in an enclosed trailer which contained several other instruments, amplifiers, etc.
When I heard of the theft, I called Bevan Greiner, the owner, and offered my etherwave - he plays extremely well and they use it regularly in their concerts. He advised me he'd like to wait a bit to see if his could be recovered.
The police had taken the report and were helpful, but they explained they had a lot of pressing matters and this was not a top priority. So bevan and I collaborated on using the internet to try to find everything. We set up bookmarked searches on craigslist and eBay - searches covering the various items stolen.
A few days later Bevan called me and he was pretty excited. He found an ad on craigslist and this was what it said...
"i baught a trailer a few months ago but i was stupid and didnt know trailers needed titles or needed too be registerd and now i dont feel like dealing with filing for a lost title id rather just get rid of it and not deal with it.it is fully enclosed and 8.5 foot long by 5 wide.if intrested email back for pics.$500 is m y asking price no i dont have a title but im not selling it for a penny less then $500.you are fully aware of what my issue is with it so if youre not willing to pay what im asking for a $2300 trailer then dont email me.even paying for the lost title you will still be saving over a grand if you where too buy it from anyone else "
He reported it to the police and sure enough, it was his trailer. That afternoon they also recovered the amps. The thieves realized it was to their benefit to cooperate, so they gave as many details as they could to where and to whom they sold to. It took a few days more and the police had the theremin.
Now what is not clear to me is whether the theremin was recovered due to information from the thieves or if someone saw the info on here the recovery was due to that.