It is kindling by now. No one will turn it in nor will it be recovered. No collector is stupid enough to hire Universal or Latoya to steal a priceless instrument. Tweak is a bad drug and. I put my money it was sold for meth, or purple drank. Just my hunch.
You’re probably right - it was just a crime of opportunity committed by some street thugs, and now the violin is at the bottom of a river somewhere or smashed in a dumpster.
I did notice, however, that the first article mentioned that one of these three had been involved in an earlier “art theft,” so I suppose there’s still a possibility that they were working on commission.
The story mentioned that they had dumped the case near where they stole the violin, probably, as someone here suggested, because they thought it had a tracking device (which it no doubt did). That indicates at least some awareness that what they were stealing wasn’t just any old fiddle to be sold for a bag of meth.
But as you say, who in their right mind would hire somebody named “Universal Allah” for the job?