I hope it all works out and you catch this guy.
Next laptop you buy you might want to consider something
like this application - some people might not think the cost is necessary or too high, but I am sure in your case you might have wished you had spent the $60 on the personal edition.
This is just an example I found using google. Some of the solutions out there will survive a reformat of the hard drive.
In my last job running an IT shop I had a couple laptops stolen from an office. The way the theft and breakin was done, it was obvious that they were going for certain individuals laptops. I wish then I would have paid for the security of these types of applications because it would have been amazing to catch the people who did it.