GREENSBORO, N.C. — When Addison Hawthorne was about 2 years old her grandmother gave her a gift. What she didn’t know at the time is just how special it would become.
“It just became the lovey that was comfortable to sleep with, the one that traveled with us that was put in the suitcase and went everywhere with us,” her mom Kim Tyler said.
The stuffed bunny, with the floppy ears, was simply called Bunny, but it would become much more than a stuffed animal.
“She loved Bunny more than almost anything,” Tyler said.
Hawthorne took bunny on church mission trips to different countries, vacations across the U.S, and even sleepovers at friend’s houses. In fact, her mom is not sure if the two have ever been apart for even a day since she was a toddler.
Now 25-years-old and married Hawthorne still hauls Bunny around on overnight trips. Which meant Bunny came along for the ride when she and her husband drove up from their home in South Carolina to spend a few days with her parents in Greensboro.
“Her husband, because he loves her and has been with her long time knows Bunny is part of her nightly routine,” Tyler said.
After the visit, Addison pulled all the sheets off the bed and put them in the laundry room before driving back to South Carolina. Later that morning when her mom was doing the laundry, she noticed Bunny got mixed up in the sheets.
Her mom told Addison not to worry and that she would send Bunny to her the next day.
“She said, 'Mom, what if it gets lost?' I said, 'Don’t worry. It won’t get lost I’ll send it FedEx, it will have a tracking number, it won’t get lost,'” Tyler said.
After a few days, Addison called her mom to let her know the package had still not arrived. Tyler reached out to FedEx and was told by an associate that it was put on a truck and sent to the Kernersville hub, but they don’t know anything else.
“I feel awful,” Tyler said.
There have been several calls and emails to several members of the FedEx since then but the package with Bunny inside has still not been found. The package has been missing more than 45 days.
“I will never send anything sentimental of any kind ground transportation again,” Tyler said.
A representative with FedEx has asked Tyler if she wants to close the case and fill out a lost package form so it could start the reimbursement process, but Tyler has declined to ask FedEx to continue to search.
“There has been a lot of crying nights,” Tyler said.
When we reached out to FedEx asking for any information related to this case and what is being done to locate the package a spokesperson sent us this email:
"The safe and secure transport of our customers’ shipments is a top priority and we apologize to Ms. Tyler, as we understand the deep meaning that sentimental items can hold. We will continue to work directly with Ms. Tyler to reach a final resolution on this matter."
The frustrating part for Tyler and her daughter is that FedEx is not providing them any details about what is being done to locate the package.
“At this point, we are sad, mad, upset, I don’t know how you could lose a package,” Tyler said.
This is not the only package that has been lost or went missing from the Kernersville Ground Transport Station. News 2 has received more than a dozen complaints of lost, missing, or delayed packages. FedEx blames the issue on an abundance of e-commerce business due to the pandemic and said it's hiring more people and adding more equipment to that location.
Tyler is not giving up hope but fears the package and Bunny may be lost forever.
“I’ve still been praying to Saint Anthony, the saint of lost items,” Tyler said.