Mara Soriano’s mother, Marilyn Soriano, 53, died on June 29, 2019, after battling cancer. Mara Soriano said her mother gave her the bear, which includes a recorded voice message, shortly before her death.
In a tweet Wednesday, Soriano said the bear had been returned to him by two good Samaritans “without a scratch on it” and the voice box intact. The only thing missing was the bear’s glasses, a replica of the ones her mother wore.
“It honestly means everything to me,” said Soriano. “There was a part of me that thought I would never see him again, for sure. It’s a great city, there were so many places I could have been, it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.”
“Now that I have it (the bear), I feel a little bit more hopeful and a little bit brighter,” she said. “Every time I look at that bear now it’s just a reminder that my mother really is always with me, that she will always come back to me.”
Security images of the Soriano apartment building revealed a man who took the bag full of his valuables, according to CBC. The men who returned his bear told Soriano that they found it in a nearby park.
Soriano spoke to Reynolds on Wednesday and said he sent the reward money to the men who found the bear. She said she is in contact with Stroumboulopoulos and Kraft Peanut Butter to get the full reward from the good Samaritans.
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