Message in a bottle with heartfelt tribute returned to Northeast Ohio woman

MILLERSBURG, Ohio (WJW) – Sending a message in a bottle is an ancient tradition that, for some, is a powerful symbol.

A Northeast Ohio woman, who placed a tribute to a loved one in a river two years ago, says she was overwhelmed when it was found earlier this week and returned to her.

Alicia Sheeks, 44, of Millersburg, says she has been grieving the loss of her unborn son, since suffering a miscarriage in 2019 in the fourth month of her pregnancy.

“I was really struggling with it. I was seeing a counselor and, you know, after talking a little while, she advised that I needed to find some way to bring closure because I wasn’t able to bury him or even see him or touch him,” Alicia said.

Alicia started by writing a note that began, “Lord, thank you for giving me Baby Charlie, even if it was only for a short while.”

In 2022, Alicia placed the note and a small teddy bear in a mason jar, and as a symbol of letting go of her grief and pain, dropped the jar into the Mohican River, near a place that has always provided comfort in her life, the Bridge of Dreams in Knox County.

“I cried and sobbed and talked to God and my son,” she said.

While Baby Charlie was never far from her thoughts, Alicia assumed that the currents of the river would sweep away her tribute to her son.

“It was a way of me saying goodbye to him, because all this time, I just couldn’t or haven’t been able to do that. I honestly thought it was gone forever, I never thought I’d see it again,” she said.

But on Sunday, a father and son hunting for turkeys along the Mohican River outside Loudonville, found a mason jar in a pile of debris near the banks of the river.

After opening the jar and reading Alicia’s touching tribute to Baby Charlie, Cody Shaffer and his father Paul decided to do whatever they could to find Alicia.

They were able to track her down at work in Millersburg and returned the jar.

“Flabbergasted. I never thought in a million years that I’d see it again,” she said.

Alicia says she will be forever grateful for the caring nature and kindness of Paul and Cody Shaffer and the gift they have given her.

“I felt like it was God’s way of telling me that I did what I needed to do and it was OK and that he’s with him,” Alicia said, her voice trembling with emotion. “It was just so many emotions wrapped up into one, I really can’t explain it.”

Alicia says she found a pumpkin seed inside the jar, the presence of which she and the Shaffers cannot explain. She plans to plant the seed as a tribute to Baby Charlie.

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