Video appears to show moment Vancouver woman’s bag with teddy bear taken
Posted July 27, 2020 6:36 pm.
Last Updated July 27, 2020 7:04 pm.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — As the internet rallies behind a woman hoping to be reunited with a precious possession, surveillance footage allegedly shows the person who picked up the bag holding a stuffed bear that plays her late mother’s voice.
RELATED: Memento of woman’s mother stolen in Vancouver’s West End, Ryan Reynolds offers $5,000 reward
Mara Soriano calls the bear Mama Bear, and it was in her backpack, along with other valuables like her passport, chequebook, and electronics, that she says was taken Friday.
In a video posted to Twitter, a person can be seen walking up to a backpack sitting near a parking garage.
UPDATE: ACTUAL FOOTAGE OF THE THEFT! When I dropped the bag, my fiance was still in the alley, not inside, so it would have been right beside the uHaul cabin. This happened just after he pulled into the loading bay. pic.twitter.com/6eoGzVVr2t
— mara soriano | FIND MAMABEAR VANCOUVER (@drawmaradraw) July 27, 2020
“When I dropped the bag, my fiance was still in the alley, not inside, so it would have been right beside the uHaul cabin,” Soriano writes in a tweet. “This happened just after he pulled into the loading bay.”
Watch: Video appears to show moment woman’s bag with teddy bear taken
The person appears to walk up to a bag near a closed garage door, look around as a van passes by, then pick up the backpack and walk down the alley.
Soriano told NEWS 1130 her backpack was stolen when she was moving from one West End apartment to another Friday around noon. A friend who was meeting her to help with the move called her and said he’d been hit by a bike.
“I dropped everything next to the U-Haul and then I ran to an Evo and went to drive toward him,” she explains.
She made a police report and reviewed surveillance footage after realizing the backpack was gone while unpacking.
Soriano has said the bear means everything to her and is the only thing she cares about getting back.
Over the weekend Vancouver’s Ryan Reynolds offered a $5,000 reward for the bear to be returned, “Zero questions asked.”
Canadian actor and “Schitt’s Creek” co-creator and star also tweeted for Canada to help find the bear.
The Vancouver Police Department is asking anyone who has information or finds the bear to call them at 604-717-3321.
