The hand-sketched map resembled something out of a middle school drafting class, with an "X" marking the spot of a buried treasure and scribbled notes and measurements on how to unearth the bounty.
And when police dug their shovels into a patch of dirt Tuesday at the site of the "X" - underneath power lines near the Ronald Reagan Freeway and White Oak Avenue - they discovered socks full of jewellery likely hidden long before Los Angeles' most prolific burglar was convicted last summer.
Diamond rings. Gold necklaces. Antique Rolexes. A canary diamond ring that, if real, could be worth as much as $400,000.
The burglar, Roberto Caveda, is imprisoned at the county's Twin Towers jail. He recently drew the map while sitting in his cell. "I was shocked," said his attorney, Mark Bledstein, who faxed the map to police. "I mean, to have a map like that, and it's right there where the guy says it is?"
The map provided details so cops would know exactly where to look, with measurements in metres - the system of Caveda's native Spain. In the "jewellery area," he even told them how far to dig - .75 metres. When LAPD detectives hit that depth, they discovered socks full of jewellery stuffed into a 2-foot-long, 4-inch-thick piece of plastic piping sealed with electrician's tape.
"We always knew that he's an odd character," said Detective Don Hrycyk, who works the LAPD art theft detail.
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