Armed diamond thieves flee scene

MURRAY — Murray police are looking for three people involved in a Wednesday jewelry heist.

Just before 10 a.m. a wholesale diamond salesman, who travels to different states to sell jewelry to retailers, was going out to his car at the Holiday Inn Express, 4465 S. Century Drive, when a dark-colored van pulled up next to him.

"Three people were inside. Two climbed out, one had a knife the other had a handgun," said Murray detective Kenny Bass.

The armed men demanded his briefcase carrying diamonds, punctured a hole in one of the tires of his rental car and left, he said.

Investigators did not have an exact count or dollar amount associated with the stolen merchandise Wednesday but believed the thieves got away with a "significant amount of diamonds."

The victim said based on his frequent traveling, he believed the van the group used was a rental vehicle.

Detectives do not believe the robbery was random.

There have been several other high-end jewelry heists over the past few years in Salt Lake County.

• On Dec. 13, 2006, the owner of AAA Jewelers and Loans at 601 S. State was carrying a bag of jewelry to his vehicle parked outside the building when he was approached by two men. He was shot at and robbed. The bullet, fortunately, only grazed the owner's chin.

• In August and November of 2006, two jewelry salesman staying at the Hampton Inn & Suites, 851 W. 1250 South in Orem, were robbed of money and jewelry in separate incidents.

• Last May in Murray, a wholesale diamond salesman from Israel was walking from his car to his hotel room near 800 East and 6400 South when he was approached by two men with a gun. The men in that incident got away with $200,000 in diamonds and have not yet been caught.

• On June 25, 2003, a traveling salesman who had just returned to his hotel from work was robbed of $1 million in jewelry in Draper. In that case, three masked men drove up to the salesman, very similar to Wednesday's incident, and robbed him. The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office investigated that case, which eventually led to two arrests in Los Angeles.

• In February 1998, three Fred Meyer employees were robbed of $1 million in jewels outside the Cottonwood Mall.

There was no evidence Wednesday to suggest the latest jewelry robbery was directly related to the other incidents.

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