‘I feel very bad,’ says 77-year-old woman after thieves stole her wedding rings and necklace Tuesday afternoon in targeted ruse
A local senior has been left reeling after a brazen robbery of the jewelry she was wearing while gardening in her front yard in southwest Barrie on Tuesday.
On June 23 at around 1 p.m., 77-year-old Maria Konnyu was working away at her flowerbed in front of her house on Summerset Drive, not far from Ferndale Drive South.
Her grandson, Anthony, had finished cutting their grass and had just left, while her husband, Nick, was inside the home.
It was then that Konnyu noticed a man in a small white SUV slowly driving by the house a couple of times before pulling into the driveway.
A middle-aged woman, who Konnyu described as being Latin American, got out of the back seat and started asking her questions such as “do you remember me?” and “how are you?” Konnyu told BarrieToday, while standing on her driveway on Wednesday, pointing out toward the road where the vehicle was parked.
The woman told her that she was a doctor, then grabbed Konnyu by the arm. It was at that time the woman began draping costume jewelry around her arm while removing Konnyu’s rings from her fingers.
The woman also put a bigger necklace around the back of Konnyu’s neck while taking off the real gold necklace that she owned.
“They took off her necklaces that she was wearing and left her with a bunch of fake stuff on them and then they just peeled out as fast as they could,” Anthony said.
“‘Please, please, give me back my wedding rings,’ I said, and she just let me go and took off,” Konnyu said in her thick Hungarian accent.
In total, she says she lost three rings and a necklace.
Konnyu said, 42 years ago, her wedding ring and engagement ring with three diamonds cost around $6,800.
But beyond the cash value of the items is the immense sentimental value for her.
“I feel very bad,” said Konnyu, who has been married to her husband for 58 years, “and I need them.”
Her husband, Nick, suffers from dementia and was asleep inside their home at the time of the theft.
The family called Barrie police right away.
“It kind of scares me a little bit, knowing that this is going on and now I have to be here and be away from my home.” Anthony said. “It doesn’t feel safe and it worries me.”
Distraction thefts such as these are, sadly, all too common.
A senior fell victim to a similar theft in a Barrie parking lot last June, losing a necklace and pendant worth nearly $5,000 to a pair of thieves.
On June 19, 2025, just before 2 p.m., Barrie police said a Wasaga Beach senior had been shopping at a Mapleview Drive East box store close to Highway 400 and, as he was loading the items he purchased into his vehicle, he saw an approaching car with a man and a woman inside as it suspiciously drove slowly by him.
In another instance in May 2023, Barrie police were made aware of an incident in which an elderly woman was approached while outside on her property by an unknown woman who asked for directions to a “big-box-type drug store.”
After the victim provided directions, the suspect gave her a gold-coloured ring as a show of thanks. The suspect then hugged the victim and removed a gold necklace from around her neck and replaced it with a fake one.
That suspect was described as Middle Eastern, in her 40s, with a heavy build and dark, medium-length hair. She was wearing a beige and white shirt. She was with a man who is described as Middle Eastern, in his 40s, thin, with dark hair and a full beard and moustache.
