Houston family's daughter's remains stolen in Amarillo
HOUSTON - A Houston family finds themselves the victims of thieves, and what was stolen was irreplaceable, keepsakes of their deceased daughter.
Robbie and Michelle Gehring remember like it was yesterday, when Michelle delivered their daughter Ella Diane. Little Ella would have been 8-years-old today, but she passed away at birth.
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So the parents hang on to photos, her blanket, and the outfit they dressed her in.
The problem is, these long-time Houstonians were moving out of state, pulling a rented trailer of their belongings. When they stopped overnight in Amarillo, thieves took the trailer with Ella's remains and every keepsake they had of their little angel.
"It's devastating, but we're leaning on each other. When we came out at 6 a.m., the whole trailer was gone. Who would take it? I couldn't believe it," says Michelle Gehring.
"40 years of memories and even beyond that. It's the family sentiments," adds Robbie Gehring.
"We lost a daughter in 2016 and all of our mementos, our pictures, the blanket that I held her in, were in there," Mrs. Gehring explained while choking back tears. Her husband added, "The photos from the day, the blanket, the bonnet, bits of flowers that were from her memorial service."
"All the urns were taken. Our daughters are leaving Texas, and it's traumatic enough. So we brought the urns of our pets, and we were going to take them with us to Colorado. It's all of our baby books and photo albums. My baby book, my husband's baby book. Our Aggie rings. We lost our Aggie rings. Beyond the jewelry that you lose, we had a safe with our personal documents. We spent all day yesterday trying to get new birth certificates. My father's antique guns, a pistol, was in a locked safe," Mrs. Gehring said.
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"You know, things you wouldn't want to put on the large moving truck, because you wanted to keep them with you," says Mr. Gehring, who explains how they put AirTags in the big moving truck, but not in the tow behind trailer. "We got in late. We actually had some in one of the suitcases, and we brought that suitcase up with us to the room."
"I like to think of myself as one who sees the good in people, and this just crushes you that people would do this," says Mrs. Gehring.
"We just really hope if you have any information or if anyone has anything, to get in contact with the Amarillo police to see if we can, at least get back some of the sentimental things," Mr. Gehring said.
Amarillo Police recovered the empty trailer, and they're keeping an eye out at pawn shops to try to track down the thieves and any of the Gehring's belongings, including China and other antiques from their parents and grandparents.
The couple is holding on to hope that little Ella's remains and mementos haven't been taken away from them forever.