San Jose family makes desperate appeal for their baby photos back

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A San Jose family is offering a reward for the return of some very sentimental video. Someone stole a camera that contained their son's first steps and first words.

This family are the victims of a very common crime, a smash and grab. Now they're posting fliers around the Mission District offering a reward, even to the person who stole their stuff, as long as they get those baby pictures and videos back.

Baby Om is 1 years old and isn't camera shy. He is excited to show off his favorite toys, but his parents are devastated that part of his first year they documented is gone.

"It's definitely very traumatic," Sudarshan Lamkhede said.

Sudarshan and his wife, Adidi, went out to dinner in San Francisco's Mission District and accidentally left a bag in their car parked on 17th and Hoff streets. Inside was a camera and laptop containing pictures and video of Om's first steps, first words, and some of the last pictures of Sudarshan's father before he passed away in June.

"The only lift we had at that point of time was that my son started walking, he started talking, and then playing with him, you know, kind of made us forget the tough part of it," Sudarshan said.

"He started talking when we were in India and we shot that in India and we just we didn't do backup because of the emergencies we had gone through in our families," Adidi said.

Sudarshan tracked down security footage. It shows what appears to be a woman using a flashlight to see inside the car. She breaks a back window and walks off with the backpack.

He posted flyers that he says are his last hope. They say "desperate appeal" and "no repercussions". He hopes the person who stole his stuff sees them. In fact, he says, keep the expensive camera and computer, all they want is the memory card and their priceless moments back.

"Just return to me. I will forgive you for taking that stuff away from me. I probably will even give you a reward," Sudarshan said.