INDIANAPOLIS — A mother's precious memento, stolen on Indy's west side, has now been returned.
The heart-shaped angel necklace containing her son's ashes showed up at Kayla Goding's house over the weekend.
Now Kayden is back near his mom's heart.
"He got his wings early," Goding said. "I'm just glad that I have my Kayden back."
The irreplaceable charm was returned after Goding's public pleas for help last week and direct message for the thief who took it.
"Just give me back my child. That was it," Goding said. "The audacity of you stealing from a grieving mother who's also a mother to a living child — you gotta be really heartless to do that. Very heartless."
Goding had worn the charm ever since her son was delivered at 13 weeks following a miscarriage last fall.
But last week, while she was working at Dollar General, someone stole her wallet out of the break room, along with the charm with Kayden's ashes that was tucked inside.
She'd lost her baby all over again.
"It felt like that. I felt like I was reliving the whole nightmare that I had before," Goding said.
So she went on Facebook and on the news and on Saturday, she got an unexpected message.
"I just got a random (Facebook) message request telling me, 'You need to go check your mailbox babe,'" Goding said. "And I'm like, 'Huh?' I opened the mailbox and right here, laying in it was the chain and then I turned it around to make sure it had the initials, KAG. It did and I just ran inside crying to my mom and put it up because I didn't want nothing else to happen to it. Didn't want to lose it."
When it was stolen, the charm had been in her wallet because the chain broke.
Goding said she was waiting for payday to be able to buy a new one. When the charm showed up in her mailbox, it came on a new chain.
So did the criminal gain a conscience?
Maybe.
Goding said the Facebook message came from the thief's ex-girlfriend.
"To me, it wasn't him that brought it back, it was his ex-girlfriend," Goding said. "So she had the heart to bring it back to me. She could be a mom. She could be a sister. She could have lost a loved one and understand the pain I was going through."
Her wallet, money and ID cards are still missing. She'd still like those back.
IMPD is still investigating, but Goding is thankful her angel is now back home.
"When this got stolen, part of my heart also got stolen and now I feel like I got my child back," Goding said. "He's home. He's with me. He's with mommy. And that's all that matters to me."