Elderly Woman Reunited With Stolen Purse - Leads Police to Robbers
Published: July 3, 2007
Some luck and a “not too bright” robber helped Savannah Chatham Metropolitan Police solve a cold case. A case where an elderly woman was knocked to the ground and her purse stolen.
Last summer five elderly women in the Windsor Forest area had their purses snatched in broad daylight. The crimes terrorized the community.
Police made an arrest in four of the cases. It was that fifth case, a case they all but gave up on, that now has the most fascinating conclusion.
The victim in that case is Peggy Coe. “I was absolutely scared to death!” she said.
The 82-year-old will never forget the day last August when a man stole her purse. It was lunchtime, she was walking out of a senior center next to Windsor Forest Elementary School.
“I said what do you want. He said I want your money and he held his hands over his face and I automatically said, oh no!”
From the start detectives believed the man responsible was Albert Lawyer, III. They arrested him for four other similar purse snatchings in the area. But they didn’t have the evidence to link Lawyer to Coe’s case.
“By him covering his face I could not positively identify him,” Coe said.
Seven months went by. She had all but given up hope. “I just gave it up.”
Then out of the blue she got a phone call that changed everything. A soldier just back from Iraq was on the phone. He told Coe he found her purse.
The soldier found Coe’s purse in a wooded lot, next to his house. He said he just stumbled upon it. The lot is lot is less than a mile from Coe’s house.
Coe said, “I was surprised when the young man called because I never expected to see it again.”
She not only got her purse back but when she got home and looked inside she found two pieces of mail, addressed to the key suspect–Albert Lawyer, III.
Now Lawyer is in jail, awaiting trial for all five purse snatching cases.
“I think it’s justice, the way justice should be, it’s just too bad when people keep doing these things and get away with it,” Coe said.
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