DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — The family of a Georgia woman who died in September is looking for answers after her wedding and engagement rings disappeared following an autopsy by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
The GBI tells Channel 2 Action News it has launched an internal affairs investigation into the matter.
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“Did it fall off the table? Is it under a desk? Can you please just really do an intensive search and try to find it?” Kim Portalski told Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Justin Gray from her Florida home.
Portalski’s sister Kandi died suddenly last month, and her body was taken to the GBI for an autopsy.
The property inventory release forms list the rings, but the jewelry is nowhere to be found.
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“The was signed for, but the evidence didn’t come with it. The ring wasn’t there,” private Investigator Robin Martinelli said.
The Portalski family hired her to try to track down what happened to the rings.
“I just wanted the GBI to understand how important this was to the family. This is it. She was cremated and this is her only heirloom for the family,” Martinelli said.
Channel 2 Action News reached out to the GBI who says they are investigating but also pointed the finger at the funeral home.
GBI spokesperson Nelly Miles said in a statement, “all her personal effects, including a ring, were given to the Gammage Funeral Home. A funeral home employee signed a property inventory and release form to document the transfer… We’ve also opened up an internal affairs investigation to perform a full review of the matter.”
“Their business is people. People’s loved ones and cherished memories and cherished people. And just please, please, please help find the ring and please be more careful,” Portalski said.
Channel 2 Action News also spoke to the owner of the funeral home, Olin Gammage who says this is the first time he’s experienced something like this in more than 30 years in the industry.
He points out that the property inventory paperwork the GBI provided is blank where it should indicate which items were released, destroyed or retained as evidence.
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