Dad wants stolen 'memory of son' back

GOBLES, Mich. (WOOD) - When Gregory Courtney died in a car crash just weeks after finishing up his tour with the Marines, his dad was left with memories -- many of them on video and in digital photographs.

But burglars stole those memories, and now Gregory Courtney's dad wants them back.

Greg Courtney's dad Joe took out a small ad in the Allegan County News, hoping the thieves would take notice and do the right thing.

"Maybe God will touch their little hearts and they'll bring that stuff back to me," Joe Courtney said.

That stuff includes videos Joe Courtney took last year of his son returning to California from Afghanistan with his platoon.

"Happy and glad to see their families, things that made you stand around and cry," Courtney recalled.

Those videos, he said, were stolen along with his Sony camcorder. The thieves also took a small Olympus camera with digital photographs of his son in Somalia.
 
"The most important thing in the world. It can't be replaced. My son's not here no more. I can't take him out in the back yard and re-do em. I've got memories in my mind, but it's just things you can't replace," Courtney said.

His 22-year-old son died in a car crash in September 2011, just weeks after returning home. Gregory Courtney lost control of his Camaro just around the corner from his dad's home on 102nd Avenue in southern Allegan County.

Joe Courtney said he thinks the thieves broke in late last week, just after the foreclosure sign went up. He wonders if that's why they targeted the home.

"That door was literally kicked in," he said.

And the burglars climbed onto an old milk can to get in through a back window of the house. They stole antiques, including a brass horn from the 1800s.

But Joe Courtney doesn't care about that.

"They can keep everything else. I don't care about it. I do not care. All I want is the memory parts of my son," said Courtney.

When he realized there was little that police could do, he took out the ad.

"I just wanted to get it out there quick enough to hopefully catch before whoever did it does their pawning, selling or whatever, to catch them," said Courtney.

He wants the burglars to drop off the property at his home or to call him.

"Hit star-67 and call me. I won't see your number. Just tell me where you want to drop it off at, and I'll pick it up," said Courtney.

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Joe Courtney
3318 102nd Avenue
Allegan, MI 49055
269.352.3427