KILLEEN, TX — There seems to be a Grinch in Killeen, but instead of stealing Christmas, he stole thousands of dollars worth of photography equipment and sentimental memories one family will never get back.
‘Twas the night before Christmas when Amy Cyr received an alert that her at-home security camera was tampered with.
“In addition to the things that were taken, he took things like my safety, my security in my own home, my peace of mind, my sense of trust in people,” she said.
Among those stolen were the photography gear she uses for her photography business, computers, purses and her personal safe.
It's a loss worth more than $10,000.
“Really anything that was of high monetary value that wasn’t mounted to the wall, like my TV, was taken,” Cyr explained.
But the biggest loss, Cyr says, is priceless, and it’s in the form of a memory card.
“To me, like I said, the stuff is replaceable, but it's those memories that’s the hardest part to get over," she said.
On the card is a wedding she shot just a day prior. The photos were still loaded into the camera.
They’re sentinel memories that are now just that.
The bride spoke out on Facebook, begging the thief to return those cards. In a comment, the bride said she and her husband waited years to get married so her son, who is in the military, could be present for the big day.
“I was devastated, I broke down into tears,” Cyr said. “I mean, I know what it feels like to have a connection to sentimental things like pictures and memories, and I just couldn’t imagine how I was going to tell my client that I didn’t have those pictures for her.”
It was a situation that left Cyr wondering if she’ll ever pick up a camera again.
“I don’t know if it’ll end it forever, but it will definitely delay me starting back up again,” she admitted.
Since then, she has checked with local pawn shops and flea markets, looking for any clues as to who would do something like this. Her lead being a pair of color "Croc-like" shoes she believes she noticed in the security footage.
