Ruby Jane's stolen violin is recovered

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Ruby Jane Smith is playing a happier tune.

Recall that just over a year ago, the talented teenage musician from Austin was accosted with her mother by a carjacker in Houston. Smith and her mother got away, but inside the vehicle were about $2,000 in cash, a guitar valued at $10,000, a custom-made violin imprinted with the name "Ruby Jane" worth $4,000 and other items.

The car was found at a fast-food restaurant parking lot, and appeared to have been "trashed," Smith told KXAN in December 2011. One 12-string guitar was recovered, but numerous other items were still missing.

But a break in the case came this week when one of Smith's friends saw a custom violin with a description that matched the one stolen from Smith advertised on an online site.

So a police officer in Houston posing as a customer made a $2,500 offer on it. The man who had it said he had paid $45, and was expecting a tidy profit.

Instead, he got to spend a night in jail.

The man said he didn't steal it, and the matter is pending in the courts.