I found a Mac book Pro, how do I return it to the owner?

I found a mac book pro and did a lot of research to find the owner. It was locked with a password, but I was still able to get the serial number by doing a firewire boot of my mac book. It looked like it belonged to a website developer. I emailed the company, but there was no reply. I found the serial number of the laptop, but a google search does not show it as lost or stolen. I turned it into the police, but they did not even bother waiting for me to give them the serial number or any information I gathered. They acted like I inconvenienced them, by turning the laptop in. Then they said they would destroy the laptop if no one claimed it in 30 days. Is there any way for me to search the serial number to find the owner? Or if I give apple the serial number, can they contact the owner and let them know the cops have their laptop? Tim