For those of you who have followed my saga of the cat burglar who broke into my New York City apartment last month, there’s good news, and then not so good news.

They caught him! An undercover informant tipped off the cops, who found him, and put him in the clink. There was much celebrating, though none of the stolen items were found.

While the cat was behind bars, four witnesses, all construction workers who are repairing our building, were brought in for a line up. Two picked him out without any doubt. But, alas, two did not. That’s when the case turned sour. A prosecutor from the District Attorney’s office called us two nights ago. She felt they didn’t have enough to go forward. They had to let him go.

The case is not entirely closed. One of the construction workers had left his hard hat up on the roof that day during his coffee break. The cat put it on as part of his disguise, and then left it behind. The Crime Scene Unit forensic team is still trying to recover some DNA. That’s already taken weeks. And could take more weeks.

That means: forget any chance of finding my jewelry.

I’ve been scouring eBay like a forlorn lover. If you ever see a watch with 60 MINUTES on the face, e-mail me.

NOTE: To read more about Lesley’s robbery saga and how it unrolled, click here for her first post on the subject, and here for her second update.