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Westbury, Long Island Mom Wants Stolen Family Photos Returned

WESTBURY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A commute to work turned into years of lost family memories for a Long Island mother. Now, she is imploring the thief to return her mementos.

Laura DeBeau's Nissan Altima was one of two cars broken into in her neighborhood in Westbury last week.  The robber only left behind glass shards of a window, which were smashed just outside her front door.

"Saw a few things strewn around in the front seat - didn't even notice the window at first," DeBeau told reporters, including CBS 2's Katie Fehlinger.

The window has since been fixed. The thief's loot included a jacket, cell phone charger and a box containing nearly a thousand pictures of her two deceased sons. While the items are nothing of much monetary value, to Debeau, they are priceless.

WCBS 880's Mike Xirinachs reports

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"Besides my sons there's other people in those picture too -- my dad and my sister. You know, everybody gone that's all I have is to look at photos of them," DeBeau said.

DeBeau said losing the photos spanning 30 years is like losing her sons all over again.  She says the photos were in her car because she was in the process of sorting through them to make a collage.

Laura DeBeau's Sons
A photo of Laura DeBeau's sons that was not stolen (credit: Sophia Hall / WCBS 880)

In 1998, DeBeau's son, Deene, died in a car crash when he was only 13 years old. Just two years later, after DeBeau gave her only other child, Reefe, a car for his 18th birthday, he died in an auto accident.

DeBeau is now making a plea with the thief to return the stolen snapshots.

"If you have it, bring it back. I don't care why you have it, how you got it," she said.

"The box wasn't locked. There were so many pictures, the lid didn't even close. Immediately, you could tell that there's nothing in it [except the photos]," DeBeau tells WCBS 880 reporter Sophia Hall.

WCBS 880's Sophia Hall with DeBeau

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Nassau County police were asking the public for assistance if they had any information.

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