Calvert County family searches for lost wedding dress

DUNKIRK, Md. — In Calvert County, the search for a missing wedding dress that’s about much more than just a gown. A Dunkirk family is asking for help to find the missing dress that was accidentally donated this spring.

"I just knew it was meant to be when I put that dress on, I was like this is the dress I want to wear to marry my husband," said Rachael Owens, in tears.

Owens knows how to search for missing pieces. She was abandoned as a newborn in 1989, a story that made headlines when she was found in a dumpster.

She was quickly adopted by her loving family, and has since found her biological siblings. But losing the wedding dress feels like losing a piece of family history.

"It feels like, it’s just a dress but it just meant the world to me," said Owens. "So being able to have that option to pass it down in our family was really important to me."

Owens celebrated her 10th anniversary this week, just a day after learning her wedding dress had been accidentally given away.

Her mother Jenifer Clark cleaned out a closet in her home in April, taking the items to a clothing donation dropbox outside the Dunkirk CVS. Clark's older daughter, who is divorced, had previously asked her mother to donate her dress. But the garment bag there actually held Owens'.

From there, the gown likely went to a nonprofit to be sold, but the distribution center has not responded to phone calls.

"I remember the beaming look on her face as she walked down the aisle with my husband, she was gorgeous, the prettiest bride I've ever seen," said Clark. "It wasn’t until a couple nights ago that I realized that I had thrown away my daughter’s wedding dress and I felt horrible. I still do."

Now the family hopes someone will come forward to say they've seen this dress, a 2012 Pronovias La Sposa Denia gown, and give Owens back a valuable piece of her history. The gown is shortened to fit a petite woman, and has a makeup stain on one side of the bodice.

"I'm happy to buy it back if somebody already has it, if somebody needs it, they can wear it! But I just want it back in the end," said Owens.

If you may have seen this dress in a Goodwill or other clothing store in the area, please email wusa-webproduction@wusa9.com with the subject "Wedding Dress."