A camera was stolen from Dave Lacey's home over a year ago. And it wasn't just any camera -- it was one that contained precious photographs of his wife Erica, who died from cancer at age 30.

"I had written it off that it was gone and stolen forever," he told ABC7.

Recently, Lacey received a wonderful surprise courtesy of the Santa Ana, Calif. police department. He was reunited with the camera and more than 300 photos he thought he would never see again.

The police found a pawn shop receipt for Lacey's camera while they were investigating a separate crime. They looked at the photos on the camera, recognized the neighborhood where one of the pictures was taken and tracked down Lacey to return the stolen property.

"That was pretty awesome," he said. "Having it back with the memories is fantastic."

For more details on this heartwarming story, watch the video above.