16-Year-Old North Aurora Boy's Family Searching for His Stolen Bionic Arm

A 16-year-old boy born with one arm had his $95,000 bionic limb stolen from his family’s parked car in Chicago earlier this month. His family is giving the person who took the battery-powered, mechanical arm and hand a chance to do the right thing.

“If we can get it back, no questions asked. I’m not going to prosecute anybody, I just want my kid to have his arm,” Derrick Luther, 46, of North Aurora, told NBC Chicago.

The Luthers are even offering a reward for Samuel’s arm and hand, a BeBionics 3, billed as the world’s most advanced prosthetic hand, which he’s had for a year after using regular prosthetics his entire life.

The arm apparently disappeared on Oct. 18 while Samuel attended a teen modeling class at K Models Talent in Pilsen, according to his dad. The boy left the arm on the floor of the parked car because the battery had gone dead. Because he wasn’t using the arm, a few days passed before Samuel realized it was missing.

“Somebody must have jingled the doors, saw the arm lying in there and snagged it,” his dad said.

Now, the Luthers are putting up posters in Pilsen and ads on Craigslist hoping to catch the attention of someone who knows about the arm. Luther even walked the neighborhood talking to people.

One guy told him he’d seen the arm. He told Luther someone was waving the closed-fisted mechanical arm around on the street, according to the Chicago Tribune.

“It’s heavy, it’s metal. The fist was clenched; that’s how my son took it off,” Luther said.

If you have information, call Chicago Police or 630-907-1790.