Langley woman’s condo robbed after fire, parents’ wedding rings missing

LANGLEY (NEWS 1130) — When Michelle Buchan went back to see what she could salvage from her Langley condo — which is in a building destroyed by fire last month — she realized the place had been ransacked and her parents’ wedding rings were missing.

The 49-unit condo building on 56th Avenue went up in flames on July 17. 

“I got a message from one of my girlfriends who said I think the building next to yours is on fire. So, basically I freaked out. I drove home like a crazy person,” Buchan tells CityNews.

When she got home, she realized the fire wasn’t next door. It was in her building, and her dog was inside.

“I was just hysterical because my dog was in there and I just asked the firefighters, the police officers just ‘Please save my dog,'” she recalls.

But a happy reunion with her beloved pet wasn’t the end of Buchan’s ordeal.

Recently she was allowed back into her ground floor unit, which is badly damaged by smoke and water.

“My den had been ransacked, a cabinet was open. So then I realized things had been taken. I realized somebody’s been in here,” she says.

Among the things taken, her parents’ wedding rings. Buchan says the rings were fairly simple gold bands and their inscriptions had worn off.

“The rest of the stuff some of it can be replaced but those rings are what matter. My dad passed away a few years ago, my mom gave her ring to me to give to my daughter or my son. Now they’re gone.”

Buchan has reported the incident to the Langley RCMP, holding out hope they might be returned.

“I don’t even care who did it. I don’t even care,” she says.

“But turn it in, somebody just turn those in.”