Toronto woman appeals for return of stolen laptop containing sentimental photos

A Toronto woman who had her laptop stolen out of a vehicle parked in the St. Clair Avenue West and Dufferin Street area is making a public appeal to get it back.

The laptop contained thousands of images of her two deceased children.

Diane Wilson says there are 27,000 photos and hours of irreplaceable video footage on the laptop.

The pictures and video are for a documentary in the works about the health journey of her son Colton and daughter Carling — who both died from a neuro-degenerative disorder, called late infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis.

Carling died at 8 years and 8 months of age and Colton died when he was almost 15, which was “remarkable,” Wilson says, because children with the disorder usually don’t live into their teens. The disorder presents itself at the age of 3.

“I documented everything,” Wilson said. “I know that whoever did take it has their own reasons for taking it. I truly believe that they won’t want to hang on to the data, it means nothing to them but it means everything to me.”

A prize is being offered for the safe return of the laptop. A kind CityNews viewer who saw our original story matched Wilson’s prize of $500, upping it to $1,000.

Det. Jason Albanese appealed to the thief’s “human decency” to do the right thing and return the stolen laptop on Tuesday while updating the media.

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