Thieves steal family dog, heirlooms from North Dallas home

Dallas police are looking for a thief who stole family heirlooms, ashes, and the family dog from a North Dallas home.

It happened Wednesday afternoon. The victims say someone kicked in their back door while they were gone and ransacked the house. That's when they noticed priceless items gone, including 8-month-old Oscar.

Police don't have much to go on. They haven't released any suspect information or surveillance video, but they were able to check the home for prints. The family says the thieves can keep the stuff, but they want their dog and their family back.

When Craig Kolstad walked into his home Wednesday afternoon, he immediately knew something felt off.

“Boxes torn apart. Drawers torn open. Shelves torn apart,” he recalled.

“The door was sort of kicked open with debris into the room,” recalled Jennifer Kolstad.

Someone got in through the back door and had gone room to room, taking whole drawers full of stuff.  Among the most valuable items taken were some of the couple's wedding jewelry and family heirlooms.

“Craig's dad’s ashes were up top,” Jennifer said. “And so they pulled that down and took it.”

“He never traveled a lot when he was alive, so we'd always take his ashes with us when we traveled and sprinkle them around,” Craig explained. “So we had a few more trips to go on together. And I hope if we're fortunate to have them back we can do that.”

And the family noticed their 8-month old French Bulldog Oscar was also missing.

“I was just gutted,” Jennifer said. “We all just started crying. And disbelief — you can't believe they would take the family dog.”

“The things you can replace,” Craig said. “But they took our dog.”

The family is offering a $1,000 reward for anyone who can bring Oscar back home to their daughter, Elsa, who has his Halloween costume ready for him just in case.

“They took part of our family, and we'd like our family back,” Craig said.

The family says the burglary happened sometime between 2 and 6:30 p.m. They also believe they may have been watched and someone knew when they wouldn't be home.