Ultrasound photos left in leased car returned to parents 2 years later

Jan. 22 (UPI) -- An Illinois couple said what initially seemed to be junk mail from a local car dealership turned out to be the first ultrasound images of their daughter, which they lost two years earlier.

Elyse Peterson Deerfield said she received a piece of mail last week from local dealership Toyota on Eden's and she initially thought it was junk, but inside were some ultrasound photos and a handwritten note from Michael Townsend, the general manager.

"Mr and Mrs. Peterson, I believe the enclosed imaging is very significant to you. It may have come from a vehicle returned. It's from some time ago," Townsend wrote.

Townsend said the ultrasound images were found in the glove compartment of a vehicle at the dealership. He said he ran the names on the images through the dealership's database, and discovered a couple by that name had previously leased the vehicle.

"I just knew. ... To everybody else, it probably wouldn't matter that much but to this family it was gonna be everything," Townsend told WGN-TV. "I was praying it would be them and sent it out and the rest is history."

The Petersons said the images were the first ultrasound photos of their daughter, taken almost exactly two years before the letter arrived.

"It just really instilled hope and goodness to realize people will go the extra mile to return something this meaningful," Peterson said.