Stolen Trove of John Lennon Items Found at Auction House

Yoko Ono is going to be reunited with a trove of John Lennon memorabilia that apparently took a long and winding road after being stolen from her New York home in 2006. Police in Germany say they have recovered more than 100 items, including diaries, glasses, and sheet music, many of which were confiscated from a Berlin auction house in July, the BBC reports. Police say a 58-year-old man was arrested Monday after a search of his home and cars turned up additional Lennon items. Prosecutors say a second suspect, Ono's former chauffeur, is living in Turkey and they will try to have him extradited.

Police say they became aware of the items when a bankruptcy administrator at the Auctionata auction house contacted them in July, the AP reports. They are now trying to determine whether the auction house knew the items were stolen when it acquired them in 2014. The diaries are from 1975, 1979, and 1980. The final entry in the 1980 diary was made on Dec. 8, hours before he was murdered, says prosecutor Susann Wettley. She says that when investigators flew to New York to have Ono verify the items, the widow was "very emotional and we noticed clearly how much these things mean to her and how happy she would be to have them back." (An angry letter from Lennon to Paul McCartney was auctioned off last year.)