Two Brave Women Spot A Man Rummaging Through A Purse — Then Step In To Save The Day

November 18, 2025

When Lavonne Schaafsma took a day trip from Michigan to downtown Chicago, she expected to enjoy Millennium Park, soak in the sights, and people-watch for a few hours.

What she didn’t expect was the sudden jolt of panic that hit her as she returned to her car and realized her purse—packed with her ID, credit cards, medications, and several hundred dollars—was gone.

Lavonne Schaafsma / Credit: My Unsung Hero Podcast / Hidden Brain

“My anxiety started in my legs, then my gut, then right on my chest,” she later shared. “I couldn’t think straight.”

Lavonne retraced every step, searching for over an hour. Finally, something nudged her toward a gift shop in Millennium Park. She had no real reason to believe her purse would be there, but she walked in anyway and asked the cashier if anyone had turned in a black purse.

The cashier’s eyes widened. Someone had.

“All the tears and sobs came out,” Lavonne said. “All of my anxiety came out.”

And then came the story—the kind that restores your faith in everyday heroes.

According to the cashier, two women had walked into the shop about thirty minutes earlier with Lavonne’s purse in hand, visibly shaken. They told her they’d spotted the bag sitting on a bench—but also saw a man going through it. Something didn’t sit right.

The women approached him and asked if the purse was his. He mumbled that his wife had lost it, but they didn’t buy it. So they did something bold: they pretended the purse was theirs and wrestled it away from him.

With the purse safely in hand, they rushed into the gift shop, waited around to see if anyone would come looking for it, and eventually left it with a security guard before heading out. Just five minutes later, Lavonne walked through the door.

Their quick thinking didn’t just save her belongings—it saved her hours of stress and a mountain of logistical headaches.

“These women I don’t know rescued me from massive anxiety,” Lavonne said. “I never got to thank them for their courage… for intervening on behalf of a stranger who wasn’t even present.”