> Why doesn't the police connect the dots?

They don't care. My iPhone was stolen. Through a circuitous route, I was able to get the details of the eBay seller, someone who lived near me, and whose listing pages couldn't have been more blatant if it had a neon sign on it: 100+ laptops, mostly Macs, "no chargers, no accessories", often activation locked. Same with phones.

So I went to my PD, with the buyer information, the seller, all of this. Their response:

"Well, he probably didn't steal it himself."

Huh, "Isn't it still a crime to knowingly sell stolen property?"

"..."

"..."

Nothing done. As of a year later he was still steadily adding multiple phones and laptops a week to his listings.

I'm not a lawyer, but it feels like you should consult one. If you have the legal information of this person and they have possession of your activation locked phone, sounds like you could at least sue him civilly or in small claims court for the value of it, if the DA won't do anything