WAFF-TV: News, Weather and Sports for Huntsville, ALMother asks thieves to return late daughter’s memorabilia

Thieves stole more than money from a Lauderdale County woman's home. They stole a box containing cash and precious memories of her late daughter.

Lela Duncan is obviously upset about the break-in.

She said the theft robbed her of one of her most treasured keepsakes – a lock of her daughter's hair.

"Very close - she was my best friend. Every week we had a Maggie and Mommy day," said Duncan.

Maggie Grace died in a car crash in January 2010.

Now two years later, thieves have stolen some of her mother's most precious memories of a daughter she'll never get to see grow up.

"I know when they saw it they figured there was something valuable in there so they took it. They took the whole box," she said. "It had a lock of her hair, her obituary, pictures she drew for me and different things of hers that couldn't be replaced, and I had $1800 in there for her tombstone."

Duncan said she's been saving money to buy her daughter a grave side marker.

"I was going to have it picked out and delivered on her birthday," she said.

Duncan says it's not about the money; it's about the other items.

"A lock of her hair is what keeps going through my mind," Duncan said. "If they have any heart at all whatsoever, if they would just bring me the stuff back that belonged to my little girl, cause I will never see the money."

In the meantime, Duncan remembers her little girl through photographs and a tattoo of Maggie's favorite flower and peace sign - she loved peace signs. And she has a message to those responsible.

"I'm very angry. You don't steal from a child, let alone a deceased child," she said.

Maggie Grace would've been 12 years old on February 24th.

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