INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) - A Missouri woman feels like she's reliving her daughter's death after discovering a lock of hair she kept of the 3-year-old has been stolen from her car.
Jaime Hampel told Independence police she found her car had been ransacked Tuesday night. Among the items stolen was a wallet containing a lock of hair that belonged to Ryan Hampel, who died in a September car crash, KMBC-TV reported.
"It instantly hit me that Ryan's hair was in there, and it was gone," Jaime Hampel said.
Hampel said the lock is the most tangible memento of her daughter, given by Children's Mercy nurses while waiting for Ryan's organs to be donated.
"They put the bow in it, and they cut off a little lock for me," Hampel said. "It was in just a tiny plastic bag, a little blonde curl with the pink bow with white polka dots."
Hampel said a bag also was stolen from the car. She said she picked it out with all three of her daughters for her substitute teaching jobs.
Hampel said the little bag with Ryan's hair is the only thing she really cares about, and hopes the thief will hear her story and return it.
"I've lost her," she said. "And you know now that I've lost a piece of her, and I would love to have it back."