This story first appeared in Colorado Community Media.
The story begins with a warrant served. At that time, Wheat Ridge Police recovered property that did not belong to the person they arrested. Wheat Ridge Police Public Information Officer Joanna Small did what so many organizations have done in the past years: she placed a noticeon Facebook.
The recovered property was family photos, some that looked like they were more than 80 years old. According to the post, the evidence technicians “did not have the heart to destroy them, because they are obviously someone’s cherished family history.” WRP did perform a search online to find the name Blanche Ashmore — one of the people in the recovered photos.
The rest of the work was done via the internet, in about 24 hours. Small and her team captured the moment that the owner of the photos, Cheryl Ashmore, was reunited with the images.
Cheryl Ashmore told Small that she didn’t even know that the photos were missing. She moved recently and remembers that day.
“We had my trunk open and the moving van open. So, there are so many people going in and out of the property over there at 38th and Wadsworth that I’m sure someone saw something and grabbed something, so boxes, not knowing what was in them.”
Ashmore said she does remember missing a tote full of beads, however.
The missing photos were from a family project Ashmore was in charge of to digitize the photos. She had another container of photos to digitize.
Small is heard on the video pointing out the fact that old family photos do not get unpacked immediately after a move.
Ashmore agreed, adding that it was easy to lose track during the move. “I had two boxes that said ‘Ashmore family pictures’ and I knew I had one. I went in this morning and saw it and was like, ‘Yeah, it’s there.’”
However, she was missing that second box.
Ashmore arrived at the station with more photos to prove that she owned the missing set. The result was a nice history lesson about the Ashmore family and their lives in the area. In the video, she sharesd that her Aunt Marjorie was a missionary at the Pilar of Fire, which was at modern-day 84th and Federal.
Ashmore also connected the name that WRP’s internet search found. Blanche Ashmore is Cheryl’s grandmother.
A couple of friends who know Ashmore told her about the posts on Facebook and a post on the app Next Door. She told Small that the photos were valuable because the family came to the area in the early 1900s and the photos are proof of that.
Small recorded a bit of the process in which Ashmore legally regained ownership of her property. It’s a bit of an education for anyone interested in police procedures as well.
As WRP wrote in the video post, “We couldn’t have designed a more picture-perfect (pun totally intended) ending!”
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