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Thieves Steal Videos Of Parents' Dead Son

POSTED: 9:17 am PDT June 12, 2008
UPDATED: 9:40 am PDT June 12, 2008

Thieves broke into the SUV of a couple staying at a motel in May and stole a bag containing videos of their dead son.

The husband and wife are pleading for help tracking down the thieves who broke into their SUV in the parking lot of a Gresham motel on 181st and Burnside and stole something that is impossible to replace.

The car prowlers took off with the couple's laptop, but they also grabbed several home movies.

The Eychners caught most of their son Eric's life on home movies up until he suddenly passed away at the age of 19.

"He was a great kid. He had an amazing sense of humor. To look at him you wouldn't know he had any problems," Eric's mother, Pam Eychner, said.

Underneath his bright smile and blue eyes Eric Eychner wasn't like most of his friends.

At just 18 months old, Eric was diagnosed with epilepsy and learning disorders -- a diagnosis that only brought them closer together.

"We were with him all the time. We just tried to make every day count so all the videos we had were really special," Pam Eychner said.

But late last month those memories were taken away, and part of the crime was caught on camera.

While the Eychner's stayed at a Super 8 motel someone pulled in, in what appeared to be a Toyota 4Runner.

The thieves smashed the windows of the Eychner's Honda Pilot and took off with several items, including the family's home movies.

To make matters worse Eric's father, David Eychner, hasn't even been able to watch any of the videos since his son's death.

"I said -- this time when I packed them -- I said, 'I'm going to do it. I'll just start it and if it's too emotional I'll walk away and record them on disk,'" David Eychner said.

The Eychners were traveling back to their home in Montana when it happened and said they always take the video with them.

Now, they're hoping whoever targeted them has a change of heart.

"It's been six and half years but when you lose a child I don't think you ever get over it," David Eychner said. "It really means nothing to anyone else and it means everything to us. So please turn it in."

Thieves Steal Videos Of Parents' Dead Son

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