Artwork honoring officer killed in line of duty lost during airport shuffle

PATTON VILLAGE, Texas – Donna Baumgartner can't believe her husband, Sgt. Stacey Baumgartner, has been gone for almost a year.

The police sergeant for Patton Village was killed in the line of duty in June 2016.

Baumgartner was involved in a car crash while pursuing a suspect on State Highway 242.

Last week, Donna and her 5-year-old daughter Chloe traveled to Washington, D.C., where the sergeant was honored at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial during National Police Week.

The family was presented a one-of-a-kind piece of artwork in honor of Sgt. Baumgartner, but it's missing.

"I totally forgot about the picture," Donna told KPRC2. "It was in the box and I didn't realize it until I was on the flight on the way home."

Donna said after she and Chloe went through security they accidentally left the picture on the conveyor belt. By the time they realized they had done so, it was too late.

She said she called Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the Transportation Security Administration, but both said no one has seen it or turned it in.

"Somebody has to have it," she said. "You can't tell me there's a suspicious package at an airport and no one is investigating."

She desperately wants it back and is hoping someone will find it and return it. She says the picture has her husband's name on it and also indicates he worked for the Patton Village Police Department.

"We have plenty of pics of him, but this was very special," she said. "I think it'd be great if someone, out of the goodness of their heart, would return it."

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