By EMILY SPARACINO / Staff Writer

WESTOVER – A Westover resident is offering a reward for the return, or information leading to the return, of jewelry items stolen from her home earlier this month.

Martha Cox discovered her home had been broken into and several pieces of family jewelry, including rhinestone necklaces, bracelets and earrings, and “some other odd pieces,” were missing on the afternoon of Oct. 9.

“Whoever got them probably thought they were diamonds, and they’re not,” Cox said of the jewelry, noting she has filed a report with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and has checked with area pawnshops to see if they had received any of the items in the last few weeks, and they had not. “Some of those pieces were 65 years old. I would just like getting them back.”

Cox said the jewelry was in a white chest with blue lining.

“It just has a lot of sentimental value to me, and I’ve had it a long, long time,” she said. “I would give a reward to someone who would either return it or give me information on how to get it back. I will give more than it’s worth.”

Cox said spices sitting in a basket on top of a freezer on her back porch were also taken Oct. 9, but more valuable items inside her home were not.

“That is another thing that’s so strange: What would anybody want with spices?” Cox said. “I don’t even care about the spices, and my freezer needed cleaning out anyway. Nothing really adds up.”

Cox said the incident occurred between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. when no one was home.

Anyone with information regarding the jewelry can contact Cox at 862-8500.

“I don’t know why anybody would do something like that,” she said. “If they would bring (the jewelry) out, I’d be glad to give them a reward and not ask any questions.”