“It had been one of the worst weeks that I have had in a very long time.”
Cameron West lost her best friend just a week ago, but saying good bye is nothing new to her. Needing to clear her mind, West went to a movie at Showplace North with her boyfriend around 6:00 PM on Saturday.
West had two purses, and left the more important one in her car.
“And then we came out to the car, and i just saw the look on my boyfriend’s face, and I’m wondering what in the world? And he’s just like, your window, and I walk over to it, and there’s glass everywhere,” she said.
A $350 Michael Kors purse didn’t have much money inside. It did have West’s medication, and something near and dear to her.
“It sounds kind of silly, but a little voice box in my purse, and it came out of a Build-A-Bear that my mom had gotten me, and it had her voice on it telling me that she loved me, and that was the last thing I had of her voice,” West said.
West lost her mother in 2014. On Saturday, she lost the last trace of her mother’s voice.
“It was as if someone had stripped the air from my lungs. I just could not breath,” West said. “Whether they knew it or not while they were doing it, they really, really hurt somebody to the point where I cried for a day straight.”
West filed a police report, and talked to an officer.
“But he told me, you know, this happens around here all the time, which is what the manager told me. He’s like unfortunately we don’t have cameras,” West said. “How is he going to find out anything if there is no witness to the crime, if there are no cameras, you know. This is just, it’s a lost cause.”
Maybe it’s a lost cause, but maybe not. West’s Facebook post about the purse has been shared hundreds of times.
“Even if it doesn’t bring me back the purse, or even if it doesn’t fix my window, or get me back that memory box that i treasure with everything in my soul, at least I know that there are good people that are trying to help me.”
Even with all the love and support in the world, all West wants is another chance to hear her mom say, “I love you,” one more time.
“If they were to just come forward whether they have the purse or not, if they even just have that voice box, that’s really all I want.”
Anyone who sees the purse should contact the Evansville Police Department. West says if the voice box is returned, she won’t press charges.
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(This story was originally published on April 2, 2018)
