East County resident finds old family photos

Photos of white water rafting trips, school parades and Christmas mornings can offer a lifetime of stories.

Unless they are lost.

A plastic bin holding hundreds of photos of what appears to be a family and extended relatives was found on Portal Crossing.

Who are these people? 

David Dillard has been on a crusade to find the mystery family and return their keepsakes.

Since he found the bin two months ago during an evening bike ride on his normal route, from his home in Gates Creek down State Road 64 and onto Portal Crossing, Dillard has been looking for leads that will help him find the family.

"This has been weighing on my heart," said Dillard, a father of two sons, Josh and Jacob. "When I saw a few of the photos, I saw my own family. They went white water rafting. We've gone white water rafting."

He found the bin on a curb, less than a mile from a storage unit.

"Maybe the guy — I don't know why I assume it's a guy — set the bin on top of his car and forgot about it," Dillard said. "So he drives away, the bin flies off and here it is. Who knows what exactly happened."

When Dillard brought the bin home, his wife, Sally, was surprised and intrigued by his find.

"I just said, 'Whatcha got there?'" Sally Dillard said. "The next night he brought home an unopened 12-pack of toilet paper he found during a bike ride. By the third night, I thought maybe he should jog instead, so he wouldn't find anything else."

Dillard didn't go through all of the photos.

He felt he was encroaching on someone else's private memories.

But of the photos he saw, Dillard noticed a Florida Highway Patrol commemorative clock hanging on the wall behind a family that posed for a portrait.

"Not everyone gets those clocks," Dillard said.

He visited FHP and spoke with North District Captain John Donovan. He showed him the picture, and Donovan said he'd ask around. When Dillard followed up, he still didn't have any leads.

"He has been diligently searching," Sally Dillard said, laughing. 

A photo of a brunette, elementary school-aged girl, taken 10 years ago, shows a name — Alexandria Corradino. 

Dillard found a school name on a photo of Corradino holding a perfect attendance certificate. She once attended Kingsway Elementary in Port Charlotte.

After calling the school and searching the White Pages online, Dillard still found no way to locate Corradino or her family. And, how did a family from Port Charlotte have family photos in Lakewood Ranch? Did they move to the Ranch?

So far, Dillard is finding more questions than answers.

"I'm starting to feel like I hit a dead end," Dillard said.

Today, both Dillard's children are adults. But he was once a dad behind a camera, quickly capturing memories on film of his own family's trips.

Physical photos still hold a special place with the Dillard family.

"We have bins and bins of photos of my family," Dillard said. "There's something special about photographs. You don't have to plug anything in to see them. People have gotten away from that over the years. But I know if someone found my family photos that would be a special moment for me. I just want to see this family get their photos back."

Contact Amanda Sebastiano at [email protected].