Lucia Robles of Brandon, Florida, has worn a necklace embossed with her daughter’s fingerprint every single day since her death in 2013.
But Robles lost the special necklace while visiting the Florida State Fair in Hillsborough County on Saturday. Without the treasured pendant around her neck, Robles told local station WFTS-TV she feels a part of her is missing too.
Robles 28-year-old daughter, Ashley Atherley, was killed by her estranged husband on Thanksgiving weekend in 2013, according to WFTS-TV.
“Because we had to do a closed casket, I really didn’t get to have that last moment with her. So the necklace just made me feel like I had her with me all the time. I never take it off,” Robles recently told the Tampa Bay news station.
Robles contacted the fair’s lost and found office on Saturday, but her sterling silver necklace hadn’t turned up. So she took her plea to social media and posted an image of the necklace on Facebook on Saturday night, hoping someone, somewhere would find it.
“I lost my finger print remembrance necklace of Ashley today at the Florida State fair. I didn’t realize it had fallen of my neck until I got home,” Robles wrote in the Facebook post. “As you can understand it has a very special meaning to me and I am heartbroken. There is an inscription on the back that reads ’in my heart forever.’ Please share and hopefully someone will find it and turn it in.”
The post has been shared over a thousand times since Saturday.
Within hours, a local family contacted Robes on Facebook saying their 9-year-old daughter had found the piece of jewelry at the fair Saturday. The girl didn’t know what it was and had put the pendant in her pocket, according to WFTS-TV.
“I put it immediately on my neck and just cried. It just — it feels right,” Robles told the news station Monday. “I just feel like that piece of me is back.”
Upon seeing the hundreds of posts shared online about Robles’ necklace, the family reached out to the woman and sent a photo of the jewelry they found. It was her prized pendant.
The family, who wished to remain anonymous, met up with Robles on Sunday night to return the necklace to its rightful owner, WFTS-TV reported.
(Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lucia Robles via Facebook)
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