Music School Exhibit Of Randy Rhoads' Memorabilia Stolen On Thanksgiving

Photo of Randy RHOADS

A display cabinet containing a number of artifacts from legendary guitarist Randy Rhoads' career was stolen from a Southern California music school Thanksgiving night, the Rhoads family says.

Thieves reportedly broke into the Musonia School of Music in North Hollywood, California, either late at night on Thanksgiving or early the following morning and stole almost everything in an exhibit on the influential former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist.

"It was devastating," Rhoads' brother Kelle, who runs the school, told The Metal Voice in a new interview. "It's bad. The Rhoads family essentially has no more pictures or memories; there's no more memorabilia or pictures or anything about my brother Randy. It's all gone, it's devastating."

Thieves rampaged through the school, vandalizing the cabinetry with a crowbar, Kelle said. They even turned on the heat while they were in the school.

They took Randy's amplifiers, his first guitar and even a painting of him. They also stole a rare pre-World War French Besson trumpet that belonged to Kelle and Randy's mother Dolores who founded the school.

While the artifacts would be challenging to sell because of their obvious connection to Musonia, Kelle says that fact makes this particular break-in even more disturbing. The thieves were focused on cleaning out the Randy exhibit. Kelle fears they are "hoarders" who just want to own those items "and keep it private." If that's true, he worries the memorabilia may never be recovered.

Unfortunately, Kelle says local police have been difficult to communicate with; they are likely overworked and without the manpower to fully investigate many recent area burglaries.

Randy's birthday is today, December 6.

Photo: Getty Images