Bride's family heirloom missing from Raleigh hotel room

RALEIGH, North Carolina (WTVD) -- Planning a wedding is stressful enough, but one local bride says she was robbed just hours before she said "I do."

Just hours before Geoff and Alexandra Lyons got married this past weekend, Alexandra was filing a report with Raleigh police in her bridal suite.

"I'm dry heaving in the bathroom, bawling my eyes out," Alexandra recalled.

When she started getting ready Saturday, she discovered the diamond necklace her grandmother gave her the day before was gone.

"I wanted to do something really special on my wedding day by wearing my grandmother's original engagement diamond," Alexandra explained. "It was set in a necklace. She's worn it every day my whole life."

Alexandra's grandfather passed away recently. That necklace connected her to her grandparents on her special day, she said.

"They sewed my granddaddy's wedding band to my bouquet so I had this wedding band and I had her diamond...or should have."

She immediately called security at the Sheraton where she was staying. She also called Raleigh Police.

Alexandra and her sister also discovered cash was missing from the hotel room. The bride believes a hotel employee is responsible for the theft.

"A hotel employee - 100 percent. It's somebody who knew our wedding schedule because everything was done so neatly."

The Sheraton's General Manager said their security investigation with police shows the only people who went in and out of that suite on the 15th floor from the time Alexandra checked in on Friday to when she realized the necklace was gone Saturday were guests with access to the room.

"It's not even about a diamond necklace," Alexandra shared. "It's about the meaning behind it, it's so irreplaceable."

Though there were several safes in the suite, Alexandra did not use them. She says she learned an important lesson this past weekend.

She also said she is displeased with the way the Sheraton staff handled the situation.

A detective with the Raleigh Police Department is assigned to the case and continues to investigate.