Nurse finds stolen Stradivari cello

LOS ANGELES – A nurse found a 320-year-old cello made by master craftsman Antonio Stradivari lying by a trash bin – and almost had her boyfriend convert it into a CD holder, police said.

The $3.5 million instrument was returned to the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association on Monday after sitting unrecognized for days in the home of Melanie Stevens, 29, who found it on her way to visit a patient.

Detective Donald Hrycyk said Stevens asked her boyfriend, a cabinetmaker, to either repair the instrument or convert it into a unique CD holder. She said she didn’t know its significance until she noticed a news report May 7.

“It’s an incredible miracle that somebody actually found it and returned it. Can you imagine it going into a garbage truck?” said the philharmonic’s associate principal cellist, Daniel Rothmuller, who played the instrument for more than 25 years.

Its return was a relief for philharmonic principal cellist Peter Stumpf, who accidentally left it outside his home. Nearby video surveillance cameras showed a bicyclist stole it April 25.

The 1684 cello was one of only about 60 made by Stradivari.