Gun stolen in 1987 in Ohio turns up on West Side

OXFORD, Ohio — A gun stolen from a southwest Ohio home has been recovered 23 years later at a pawn shop in Washington state.

Police Chief Michael Goins in Ohio’s Oxford Township say there’s no telling how the .45-caliber Colt 1911 series pistol made the cross-country trip. Police discovered the gun’s whereabouts using a computer database of information gathered from pawn shops and other businesses.

Goins’ department was alerted about the gun several months ago by a detective in Lakewood, Wash.

The pistol had been taken during an October 1987 burglary at the Oxford Township home of Ralph …

OXFORD, Ohio — A gun stolen from a southwest Ohio home has been recovered 23 years later at a pawn shop in Washington state.

Police Chief Michael Goins in Ohio’s Oxford Township say there’s no telling how the .45-caliber Colt 1911 series pistol made the cross-country trip. Police discovered the gun’s whereabouts using a computer database of information gathered from pawn shops and other businesses.

Goins’ department was alerted about the gun several months ago by a detective in Lakewood, Wash.

The pistol had been taken during an October 1987 burglary at the Oxford Township home of Ralph Rud. Rud, who now lives in Connersville, Ind., says he’s amazed police still had the gun on their books.

Goins says he’ll turn it over to Rud once it arrives from Washington.