Woman’s lost purse returned to her 30 years later

NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. (WXII) - A North Carolina woman has been reunited with her purse after it was missing for 30 years.

Where and how it was found may be hard to believe.

Mick Zulpo, co-owner of Liberty Theatre, said his team found the purse during construction work at the historic theater in downtown North Wilkesboro.

“We were taking out some pieces from the ceiling and it [the purse] actually fell out of the ceiling and literally hit one of our guys on the head,” Zulpo said.

He said he tasked his wife with finding the rightful owner, and it didn’t take long.

Sherry Church, the owner of the purse, said she used to come to the Liberty Theatre all the time with friends in the early 1990s. And one day, she lost it with several important items inside.

She said a birth certificate, an old job application, a class schedule, makeup, pictures and more were all found inside now 30 years later.

But no money was inside.

“I think someone maybe took the money out and hid the evidence upstairs,” Zulpo said.

Church said she kept returning to the theater over the years, never knowing her purse was there all along.

And now the purse is a part of the theater’s long history.

The new owners of the Liberty Theater held their opening night on Friday.