'I don’t think I’ll stop': Bloomington woman searching for father's missing cremated ashes

(FOX 9) - A Bloomington woman has recently lost something that is priceless. Now she's on a painful search, retracing all of her steps, to find it.
 
Natalie Garten lost her dad Terry on Oct. 24, 2019, after a hard-fought battle with leukemia. Now in 2021, she’s lost him all over again.

"I reach here all the time to feel it and just to know that it is not there is hard," Garten said while motioning to her chest. "I mean I haven’t even worn another necklace because that was his spot."

Terry was cremated and his ashes were buried in the ground, except for a small amount in a necklace.   

"To know he was right there with me was a lot," Garten explained. "I’ve only taken it off a handful of times. I wore it nonstop; I wore it to sleep, I wore it to shower, everything."

Now the irreplaceable necklace is gone.    

"I had put it on before I left the spray tan place and I don’t think it clasped all the way, so I think it fell off," Garten said. "It means so much to me, I mean I’ve gone to the spray tan place so many times. They literally looked in their washer, their dryer, they poured out their vacuum."

She continues to search everywhere, in hopes of reuniting with her late father.  
"I mean I tore my bed apart, you tore my bed apart, I looked, every step I took, I poured out all the shoes, I shook out all my clothes, I deep-searched my car," Garten said. "I’m going to look for it until it either shows up, or... I don’t think I’ll stop."

Her family and friends are looking too, as well as complete strangers like Tricia Lorntson.     

"Because I live right here in the area," Lorntson explained. "I just reached out to her and asked exactly where she had parked, thinking I could just come down and take a look around the parking lot."
 
If you’ve seen the necklace or want to help Natalie look for it, you’re welcome to reach out to her here. (https://www.facebook.com/natalie.garten)