Birth certificates., family heirlooms, jewelry. When it comes to protecting something valuable, a lot of people rely on safe deposit boxes. And you'd never think those items weren't safe.
One local woman put most of her coin collection plus other items dear to her heart inside her safe deposit box for safe keeping. What she found out is that it wasn't as safe as she had thought, and that's why she called Local 6.
It's not a huge collection. It's not even all that valuable. But to Twila Coleman, it was something to pass along to her grandkids.
"This was gonna be something special cause I thought they were kind of a collector's item they should have."
But her collection isn't what it used to be. She stored many of her favorite coins in a safe deposit box at the US Bank in Murray.
"I thought that was the safest place it could be."
She was wrong. In June 2010 she found out the box was empty.
"When I went in there, the box had been drilled."
According to the bank's own records, bank officials actually opened the safe deposit box back in April 2006, but without Twila's knowledge. A list from the bank shows what the they found: coins, stock certificates, an old Chinese note, and a pay script from World War II. But it doesn't explain why they did it.
"The only reason they ever gave me is they had to check the contract. The contract's not in the box, I don't have it, the bank keeps that."
The bank also kept charging her rent on the box for four more years. They eventually refunded that money. But Twila got another surprise. A letter saying she had picked up her stuff back in January 2007.
"I didn't know it was missing until 2010."
There were a few things we wanted to know. Like why the bank opened the box; who apparently picked up her stuff; how she can get her belongings back.
Initially US Bank said they couldn't comment on the case citing their privacy policy. But late Tuesday afternoon, a bank executive acknowledged they made a mistake. Twila's records had been lost. And the employees who opened the box were no longer with the company. They stood by their contention Twila had picked up her belongings, but had no records to back that claim.
To Twila, "It's just like if somebody came in your house and took something you had. I can't see there's a whole lot of difference."
She did get back the Chinese note and the pay script, but the coins are still missing.
"First they told me it was in unclaimed property in Kentucky, then in Ohio, then they just don't know."
All that's left for Twila is a lot of frustration.
"I just feel like they should not have done what they did."
