Non-Performing Seller Woes....Part 1

So here's the deal - I get 15 items for 20$ (after shipping) in 15 different auctions.  I pay.  All is well, and this is on June 23rd.  I hear nothing back from the seller, which is fine....until....on the 2nd of July I get a refund from the seller stating that "My items got stolen at work, sorry, don't leave me bad feedback".  Here's the rub....the items I bought from the seller have a fair market value of about 120$.  The long and short is that I am out about a hundred dollars as I had intended to sell them to a broker I know would've given me 120$ on the spot for them.  That being said, my money is still in Paypal Limbo, the seller will not respond to me, and now I am trying to determine what State and County the person lives in to see if they're close enough to sue in small claims court for my damages.

I really think that the person just realized they'd set the initial price way too low, expected the items to be bid up quite a bit, and ended up having seller's remorse.  I asked the seller for a copy of the police report and still have not heard anything from them OR ebay.