A Chicago Woman Wrote a Last Note to Her Parents Before Dying. The Police Destroyed It.

Two parents in Chicago were devastated to learn that a year after their daughter’s death, the city’s police force destroyed the last note she ever wrote them.

Terry Porter’s daughter Nicole, 29, took her own life in February 2015, leaving behind two notes—one written to her parents, CBS Chicago reports. Police took the letters into evidence, and ruled the death a suicide in May of that year.

But the case wasn’t officially closed until April 2016, at which point the detective notified Porter that she could collect the letter. When Porter and her husband went to pick up the note a month later, they learned it had been destroyed due to an administrative error.

“It was like everything was ripped right open again,” Porter told CBS Chicago. “It was the last ‘I love you’ she ever said to us.”

Porter would like Chicago police to review their policies to ensure this doesn’t happen to any other grieving families.

[CBS Chicago]