Wedding gown survives tornado: Illinois farmer helps reunite bride with beloved dress

BELVIDERE, IL (KTRK) -- Months after 11 tornadoes killed two people and ripped through parts of Illinois, an uplifting story is coming out of the wreckage.

While picking through debris near his 800-acre farm after the April storms, Roger Miller found a wedding dress.

Miller said, "Well, my reaction was 'gosh this is a beautiful wedding dress.' It had sequins on it and everything and somebody's going to probably wish they had that back."

Kelly Newman lost her home in the tornado. She recalled, "My son texted me he said 'I think your dress is online,' and I said, 'What?' And he said that it's on the tornado page. So I went on there and sure enough, there it was and he had said, 'I think this is my mom's, right?' and it was!"

But Miller says he could not hand it over in the condition he found it in. He and his wife shipped it to New York to get it cleaned.

This month, Newman finally got her beloved gown back.