Wedding rings are sentimental by nature, but you could argue this one inscribed with Kimberly Vaughn's first name on the inside is even more so. She was wearing it when she was visiting family in Deer Park last week, but on her way home to Virginia over the weekend, it went missing.
It was one of Vaughn's constant reminders of the loss she and her children have suffered.
"It's just a nice reminder of the love we shared," she said .
And now the wedding band her husband once wore is lost, too.
"My jaw dropped. My heart just fell to the floor. I felt like somebody was standing on my chest," Vaughn said.
Kimberly has kept it close since August when Aaron Vaughn and 21 other Navy SEALS were killed in action in Afghanistan. She had been wearing it on her right thumb, and that's where it was she says when she left this Super 8 Hotel in Deer Park. Somewhere between there and her travels through two airports it disappeared.
"Losing a spouse is obviously terribly difficult and then to lose the ring, I mean it's my fault, but to lose something -- it was a symbol of our love and our commitment to one another it's just, it's crushing," Vaughn said.
Kimberly has launched a Facebook page called 'Find Aaron Vaughn's Wedding Band' in hopes of its return and almost 7,000 people have liked it. She has also retraced her steps as best she can starting with the hotel in Deer Park where she remembered putting it on.
"We looked everywhere for it, even in the parking lot ... but we didn't find anything," hotel employee Arnez Randeria said.
From there, Vaughn, her father and two young children drove to Bush Intercontinental Airport. They first dropped off a rental car at Thrifty, then Kimberly used the restroom and then boarded a flight to Charlotte followed by a connecting flight to Washington, D.C.
A number of people have looked for it already. She's hoping for even more help.
"It'll be two months tomorrow that I lost Aaron and I've been wearing it ever since so hopefully somebody out there is generous enough to find it. I'm hoping for a miracle here," Vaughn said.
Vaughn says she's been overwhelmed by the interest her story. She's desperate to get it back.
