WILSONVILLE -- Leslie Bliss-Ketchum is searching for something she may never find.
"It's been three years I've been doing research down here, " she said.
The Portland State University graduate student had nine of her wildlife cameras stolen a few weeks ago.
Her cameras snapped pictures of deer, fox, ducks, and bunnies in their natural habitat at the Coffee Creek Wetlands in Wilsonville.
Leslie doesn't want to believe that the cameras are gone. They were the key part of her masters degree thesis and their theft left her in tears.
"I was upset," she said, "It's been three years of research. I need this to get my masters and I don't have that yet."
Police were offering a $500 reward for information to get the cameras back.
"I don't think the individuals recognized the value of these, that these were for research, " said Det. Jim Strovink of the Clackamas County Sheriffs Office.
Portland State University doesn't have the money to buy the new ones and the insurance deductible is too high to realistically file a claim within the department's budget.
"I'm stuck right now, " said Bliss-Ketchum.
This is Leslie's heart and soul, and now she says she feels lost.
