Flag, Atlanta Fire badge reunited with family

HAMPTON, Ga. - After watching Tuesday's story, FOX 5 viewers helped connect Neetsinna Ricks and Theresa Sanders with the owner of the box found in the abandoned storage unit.

"This is the greatest blessing," Kimberly Nixon told FOX 5.

Inside the box, an Atlanta Fire badge and an American flag. Kimberly Nixon says those belong to her family.

"The badge is my dad's," Nixon said. "He was a Captain for more than 30 years, and the flag was put over my great Aunt's casket at her funeral. She was a nurse in the U.S. Military."

Ricks and Sanders told FOX 5 they had one mission-to find who the box belonged to.

"We gave them back something precious," Ricks said.

"I'm just so happy we found them," Sanders said.

Finding items left behind in storage units is pretty common, but two women who recently bought a unit at General Storage in Hampton, said they found something totally unexpected: a box with an American flag, an Atlanta Fire badge, a cross and even a coffee mug.

“We looked at each other like what have we found,” Neetsinna Ricks said.

VIDEO REPORT: Atlanta firefighter memorial found

Neetsinna Ricks and Theresa Sanders are the co-owners of Sylvia’s Closet, a thrift store, in Hampton. Recently, they were the highest bidders for an auctioned off storage unit.

“We get the units and store items for our store,” Theresa Sanders said.

Sanders said when they opened the unit, it was jam packed. Once they went through it, they made the interesting discovery.

“We found a box... it’s a box for a fallen fireman in Atlanta. It has a cross that his wife or his mother would have been presented with,” Sanders said.

“We were both in shock,” Ricks said. “I mean why would somebody leave something like that in a storage unit.”

Whatever the circumstances, Ricks and Sanders said it doesn’t matter. They want to find the person or family to which the box belongs.

“If it was me or my family, I would want it back,” Sanders said.

FOX 5 News reached out to General Storage. They said they are working to track down the previous owner.

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