Las Vegas woman asks for help to recover cherished photos

Peggy Thompson didn’t think twice when she donated some video cameras last August to the Salvation Army on Flamingo Road and Durango Drive.

It wasn’t until late November that the Las Vegas woman realized she made a heartbreaking mistake.

Instead of the cameras she intended to donate, she dropped off cameras containing home videos of her 12-year-old niece, Brittany, who died in 2010.

“I went to go get the box and take it down to a camera store to put it on a disc for me,” Thompson said. “I opened it and it was full of (the intended) donations.”

Thompson posted a sign at the Salvation Army store in hopes that someone in the community bought the cameras and will return the tapes to her. She is offering a $200 reward for their return and asks anyone with information to call or text her at 970-405-5356. They can keep the cameras, she said.

Thompson, who was very close to her niece and referred to her as her daughter, also visited Salvation Army locations around Las Vegas and Henderson, but with no luck.

“I appreciate everyone trying to help me,” Thompson said. “We’ve gotten several phone calls and texts. Everyone is trying to help. It’s amazing to see all the wonderful people here in this town and all the outpouring of help.”

The two donated cameras were older models from the 1980s and 1990s and were in black bags. One of the cameras was a Canon.

Thompson said most of the photographs she had of her niece were lost when a basement flooded and those tapes were the only ones she had to remember her by.

Thompson hopes someone will give her the chance to relive those memories.

“I would love to see my daughter again,” Thompson said. “I would absolutely love it.”

Lukas Eggen can be reached at leggen@reviewjournal.com. Follow @LukasEggen on Twitter.