Lost photos found in Henderson find their way home across country

Henderson resident Elaine Anderson knows the importance of family and sharing memories.

So when she found a container full of old family photos on the side of the road, she knew she had to work fast to locate the owner.

“A lot of the photos looked old, and you can’t just replace those,” Anderson said. “Besides, if I lost family photos, I would want someone to try to return them.”

Anderson was at a red light on Lake Mead Parkway with her husband Feb. 6 when she glanced out the car window and spotted the container.

“I was getting ready to tell my husband so he could let me out, but the light turned green,” Anderson said. “I told him we needed to turn around for the photos, so we pulled into the parking lot, and he walked back to get them.”

For two days, Anderson researched the photos. She typed the names written on the backs into online search engines and even contacted a Veterans of Foreign Wars post to learn more about the uniform an individual wore in a military portrait.

Without a lead, Anderson turned to social media and posted a few of the photos, hoping someone would recognize the individuals.

“At first, I didn’t think about it. I just felt like I had to hurry up and find these people before it was too late,” Anderson said. “But I woke up a few days later thinking, ‘This is ridiculous. This town is so big with so many people, there’s no way I’m going to find them.’ ”

However, luck was in Anderson’s favor when she checked her Facebook page Feb. 10 and received a message from Texas resident Dani Martin Salazar.

“Initially, my sister, Kalai, texted me the photos (Anderson) posted on Facebook, and I instantly knew they were my grandma’s,” Salazar said. “I asked where they were found, and that’s when my sister told me about the truck break-in.”

Salazar’s uncle traveled to Henderson to move her grandmother closer to him in Washington state. He stayed one night at a hotel, and when he returned to his truck in the morning, he noticed someone had broken into the camper and rifled through her grandmother’s belongings.

“They had no idea what was missing at that point,” Salazar said. “They were on their way back to Washington, and there wasn’t much they could do about it, so they left.”

Salazar’s sister, a Henderson resident, was working at a bank when one of her tellers recognized her Navy photo from Anderson’s Facebook post.

“My sister doesn’t have Facebook and was at work, so she asked me to find out what I could,” Salazar said. “I couldn’t find (Anderson) on Facebook, but I found her post through Google, and I left her a private message.”

Anderson asked Salazar questions about the photos to confirm her identity and later dropped the photos off with her sister.

Salazar said her husband, who also served in the Navy, received messages from old military buddies who also recognized her sister’s found military portrait posted on a Navy website.

“This has gone beyond just Henderson. The power of social media is amazing,” Salazar said. “What (Anderson) posted were just a few photos for verification. There were four generations of photographs in that container, including almost all of my baby photos and pictures of my grandma as a teenager. These are priceless memories, and (Anderson) is our angel for returning them.”

Contact Henderson View reporter Caitlyn Belcher at cbelcher@viewnews.com or 702-383-0403.