Alaskan thrifter reunites family with ‘priceless’ scrapbook that disappeared 10 years ago after storage unit break-in

An Alaskan woman helped a family reunite with their “priceless” scrapbook that was lost for 10 years after she picked it up at a thrift shop for a few bucks last year.

Christine Otutoa purchased what she thought was an empty photo album for $4 at a non-profit thrift store in Anchorage in 2023, but instead, the book held countless family photos and memories among its pages, including wedding photos from the 1960s.

When Otutoa made the discovery, she then worked to find the family who made those memories, eventually enlisting the help of a local television station for help last week.

“I don’t know if it was accidentally thrown away, but I’d rather return it and have somebody share these memories, get them back,” Otutoa told Alaska’s News Source, which assisted in tracking down the owners of the book.

“You never know. It might mean a lot to them.”

The station said a reporter discovered the book belonged to Allen Latuska after combing through the pages and using one of the names in a photo caption to unravel the mystery.

Latuska, who lives in Eagle River, reportedly said last time he saw the scrapbook was about a decade ago in his mother’s storage unit before it was broken into and raided.

There are photos of his childhood and of loved ones who have died.

“They are priceless, and I’d gladly pay her back the $4,” an emotional Latuska told the station.

“I go to that same thrift store with my wife sometimes, and I can only imagine if she would have picked it up and opened it and saw me, or if I would have seen it, it would have been shocking.”

He and Otutoa connected recently where Latuska expressed his surprise and gratitude.

“I figured, you know, it’s somebody’s memories,” Otutoa said, according to Alaska’s News Source. “And you know, you can never get those pictures back, and I really wanted to make sure it gets back to the right owner.”