Editor's note: Contact7 seeks out audience tips and feedback to help people in need, resolve problems and hold the powerful accountable. If you know of a community need our call center could address, or have a story idea for our investigative team to pursue, please email us at contact7@thedenverchannel.com or call (720) 462-7777. Find more Contact7 stories here.
AURORA, Colo. -- A baby book tells the story of a new life: first steps, first month, first beach trip. But in all those firsts, Josh Connor didn't know the first thing about who the people pictured in the baby book were.
Last month, this father of five was driving in Aurora and ran over something on the side of the road.
"I looked down and I just saw all these cute pictures of a little kid," said Connor, who stopped in the middle of the intersection to make sure nothing was amiss. "And I said, 'somebody wants that.'"
When he got home, he realized, that book was something special.
"I am an abject failure as a parent. They have literally updates of everything she did the first 12 months of her life," he said with a smile. "I'd probably be hard-pressed to find this much information written down in my house about all of my kids combined."
He posted about the book on social media, even trying to message potential parents he found on Facebook with no success.
"With the last name being Johnson there's just so many people to go through, so I was hoping you guys could help us out," he said.
So we started combing through the pages and the pictures for clues, learning the baby had been adopted by the family who made the beautiful book for her, documenting everything about her first year.
Unfortunately, the parents' names are never mentioned, but one page lists a relative's last name, so we followed the breadcrumbs to finally find a Facebook post from a heartbroken mom who had left her baby book on her van and driven away, only to realize her mistake too late.
Fast forward to Gina Johnson's house just a few miles away.
"I was really upset," said Johnson. "There were things in there we can't duplicate that are irreplaceable. I told my best friend, 'I'm never going to forgive myself for this.'"
Returning a baby book may seem like a small thing, but when she saw the book again for the first time, Johnson immediately hugged Connor.
Inside, she said, was the only photo of her daughter's birth father holding her, a letter from her first foster mother and her first lock of hair.
"Thank you so much," she said, thanking him and Contact7 for finding her. "Thank you - thank you for taking your time today to find us - this means more than you would ever know. A lot of love went into that from a lot of people. The fact that she's going to have it her whole life and be able to show her kids -- it means a lot to us."
