HOUSTON – A Houston woman used a local Facebook page to recover her rare racing bike.
When Darla Shinn walked out of the Texas Land and Cattle Steak House in the 12,000 block of the Katy Freeway on Saturday night, she found her car window was broken and her $5,500 bike was stolen.
She posted a picture of her rare, "Wilier" bike on Facebook. A friend then posted it on the Critical Mass Facebook page with more than 9,000 followers.
On Sunday, someone in southeast Houston spotted the triathlon racing bike with the mis-matched front and back wheels in the area of Telephone and Dumble Roads.
"I was surprised it was so fast! I actually figured it would be Craigslist or something before I found it," said Shinn.
She and her friend, Simon Crompton, made plans to recover the stolen bike. She and her friend said they quickly spotted the bike.
Crompton told Local 2, "We eventually came across it with this guy and followed the rider down there and came up alongside him and made a go for the bike!"
Shinn said, "Simon cut him off with his car. I jumped out and got the bike and started screaming at him and he took off running!"
They said they called police. Crompton said he eventually lost the guy. They said police showed up and couldn't find him either.
Houston Police said going after stolen property on your own is dangerous and the best idea is to give officers a call. They said you never know if someone is armed.
Officers said, you can replace stolen property but you cannot replace a life.
Police said someone broke into three cars at the same restaurant Saturday night. They said an $8,000 bike was also stolen.