N-mom Is Holding Boyfriend’s Stuff Hostage

Hi all, as the title suggests, my boyfriend recently moved in with me yet most of his things he couldn’t take with him are at his mother’s house. She is not allowing him on the property and has threatened to involve the police. This has been ongoing since July and there has been a constant cycle of her agreeing to considering letting him go retrieve his things only for her to change her mind and refuse to let him come when he presses the issue. It seems that she is using this as a bargaining chip because the reason he left her house in the first place was over a dispute and she wants him to apologize when he wasn’t in the wrong. He has tried to amicably assert that he’d like to have his things before he reconciles the relationship but that has gone nowhere and she has called him narcissistic for such behavior.

We have considered getting authorities involved to help with the retrieval process but given her nature, we are afraid such actions would result in her negatively retaliating. While she doesn’t know where we live, she knows where my boyfriend works and she is not above making accusations that could threaten his job security or worse. However, we also worry the longer she has his things, the more likely she is to dispose of or destroy said items. We have asked friends and family for advice but mainly we want to handle this in the most amicable way possible while still getting the result we want. My boyfriend acquiesced to apologizing first but we still consider that this may not be enough.

Currently, we have saved every text message of back and forth communication to give evidence of her flip-flopping nature. Now, we are just unsure of our next steps. We want advice on how to handle this without worrying about retaliatory actions but also want to retrieve his things asap. Thanks so much in advance.