A violin worth thousands of dollars is back in the hands of its rightful owner after a carjacking suspect left behind a major clue during his crime spree, police say.
On Wednesday, March 1, Mary Kim was in the parking lot of the Barnes & Noble at 12089 Rockville Pike in Rockville, Maryland, when a man with a gun stole her car.
"He said drop the keys and...give me your bag," Kim said.
Inside her 2004 Lexus was the $6,000 violin Kim's mother gave her. The violin was made in France in 1891. Kim is studying to get a graduate degree in music and had been on her way to a music lesson the day she was carjacked.
Kim said she didn't think she would ever see the violin, or her car, again.
But Kim was reunited with the violin on Wednesday after police arrested the carjacking suspect, 27-year-old Michael Rothenberg.
Montgomery County Police Detective Ed Drew recovered Kim's violin from a pawn shop, which had bought it for just $200.
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Police said a few days after the carjacking, Rothenberg used the stolen Lexus during to rob a 7-Eleven on MacArthur Boulevard and on Monday, he drove it to a gas station he allegedly robbed at gunpoint in Howard County.
As Rothenberg drove away from the gas station, he wrecked the Lexus and carjacked a Mini Cooper to continue his getaway, according to police.
But police said they discovered a key clue left behind in the stolen Lexus -- Rothenberg's driver's license.
Rothenberg was arrested on Monday and charged with armed robbery and armed carjacking, police said.
