Meteorite that damaged Ill. home fetches $51,000

PARK FOREST -- A 5-pound meteorite piece that crashed into a suburban Chicago home in 2003 has sold for nearly $51,000 at auction.

Dallas-based Heritage Auctions sold the so-called "Garza Stone." Director David Herskowitz says the meteorite chunk fetched a high price because it hit a man-made object. He says meteorites typically land in deserts, oceans, or on polar ice caps.

The Garza stone didn't just hit a man-made object on March 26, 2003 -- it came close to hitting a person. The rock blasted through the roof of steelworker Noe Garza's Park Forest home and landed in a second floor bedroom, just feet away from his 14-year-old son.

When insurance didn't cover the cost of the damage, Garza sold the 4.6 billion-year-old rock to a private collector for an estimated $45,000.