(NBC News Channel) — An Indiana woman uncovered a mystery 40 years in the making.
Cheryl Bell frequents estate sales and was shocked to find a portrait of herself from 1981 up for sale. Bell remembers the portrait. She’s just a little foggy about the details.
“I don’t remember getting it done. I don’t think I sat for it. I think it was probably done from a photo. But honestly, I remember getting it, and I remember thinking, ‘I don’t know if that really looks like me,” Bell said.
Bell thought she might have given it to someone like a boyfriend, but forgot about the portrait until last week when she saw it among hundreds, if not thousands of items posted on a Facebook page for an estate sale.
“Well I was scrolling through, couldn’t get back to sleep, and all of a sudden, I just stopped cold. And it was like my heart stopped.”
Amy Stoody said her normal rules for estate sales are no pre-buys and no pulling items, but she made an exception for Bell.
“This was a special circumstance,” Stoody said.
Bell said she doesn’t know the man who owned the house and had her portrait on his wall.
“Can you imagine what that portrait has seen in 40 years?!”