Devastated father offers $10,000 reward to find a stolen phone containing images of his dead baby girl
- Jay and Dee Windross lost their 11-month-old daughter Amiyah on April 24, 2019
- Days earlier, Dee's phone was taken from a toilet in Chadstone shopping Centre
- The Windross' are offering a $10,000 reward for the Samsung Galaxy S8's return
- The photos could help geneticists to understand a new Mitochondrial disease
- He said they want to know even if the phone has been disposed of to get closure
Amiyah Windross tragically died from a terminal illness weeks before her first birthday
A devastated father is offering a $10,000 reward for help finding a stolen phone containing the 'only memories' of his dead baby girl.
Melbourne couple Jay and Dee Windross lost their 11-month-old daughter Amiyah to a mitochondrial disease on April 24 last year.
Days before her death, precious memories were taken when Dee accidentally left her Samsung Galaxy S8 with a purple cover in a toilet cubicle at Chadstone Shopping Centre.
A year on, the priceless pictures are yet to be recovered, and the grieving parents have issued another plea for the phone to be handed in.
'We don't have any memories of our daughter left. We just want the phone,' Mr Windross told Daily Mail Australia.
'I can keep earning money but I can't keep taking photos of my daughter.'
Amiyah had battled an 'undiagnosed neurological issue from the day she was born' which has only recently been diagnosed.
The hundreds of videos and photos could hold clues for geneticists to understand the completely new disease that took Amiyah's life.
The devastated parents hope the information could prevent other families from suffering.
'We had been trying since she was six-weeks old for people to believe us that something was wrong,' Mr Windross said.
Grieving parents Jay and Dee Windross have issued a desperate plea for the return of Dee's Samsung Galaxy S8 that was taken from a toilet cubicle in Chadstone Shopping Centre
'Everyone kept saying we were new parents and she was fine and it has now been proved it was an underlying condition.'
'We have hundreds of hours footage that can paint a timeline of what was occurring, which can be given to pediatricians and medical professionals to pinpoint what was going on.'
'We don't want other families to experience what we have experienced.'
Mr Windross said he feels who ever took it may have already disposed of it or deleted the photos, but urged them to still come forward to give the couple closure so they stop searching.
Earlier this week, the distraught father issued a heartbreaking Facebook post begging for anyone with information to come forward, offering to sell his car in exchange for money to buy back the phone.
'Someone out there knows where Dee's phone is,' he wrote on Monday.
The precious memories contained on the phone would help medical professionals piece together key information about the new mitochondrial disease that caused Amiyah's death
'This day last year it was taken from a female toilet stall, in the downstairs food court next to Target.
'You have our only memories of our only child. We lived an 11 month nightmare, but managed to capture some better times and they were saved on this phone. We now have nothing to look at to remind us of her.
'If this message finds the person who picked up our phone - I ask you to anonymously let us know somehow. Write an anonymous letter to the police, or tell a family member or friend who can act on your behalf. Just find a way. PLEASE!
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'Times are really tough at the moment and I have very little, to no money to offer,' the post continued.
'But if you are someone that knows where our phone is, who has our phone, or where our phone is, I will sell my car and give the person who leads us to our phone a $10,000 reward when we have it back in our hands. No questions asked.'
'You must think this is a bit extreme. Why would I sell a daily necessity for a phone? I will one day replace my car, whereas I can't replace what's on that phone.'
'Please. Help us get our phone back. PLEASE!'
The Windross family during happier times
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