Anita Rapchak lost her son to addiction in 2012.

In memory of her late son, Richard Fritzinger, Rapchak purchased a gold necklace that had his fingerprint engraved on it.

Now, the necklace has gone missing, and Rapchak finds herself longing for her most treasured keepsake.

On the back of the necklace there is a message that reads “Ritchie’s (it was supposed to be spelled Richie’s, but it was spelled wrong) touch forever.”

“I lost my son eight years ago, and I wore it almost every day since then,” Rapchak said. “I touch it whenever I think of him, happy or sad.”

Rapchak, of Palmerton, said she walks through the borough park every day, and believes she lost the oval necklace Aug. 26 while there with her granddaughter, Amelia, 3,

“I needed something from him,” she said. “I can’t afford another one, and the one I lost means everything to me.”

Losing a son to addiction

Unfortunately, Rapchak never had a chance to say goodbye to her son, who died while living in New Jersey.

Several years before his passing, she said Fritzinger was working and a young driver went through a stop sign and hit Fritzinger’s driver’s side door.

Rapchak said they had to perform emergency surgery, for which they gave him morphine beforehand.

She said after the surgery her son was sent home with Percocet, which he eventually got hooked on.

Over time, Rapchak said Fritzinger stopped and was doing OK, but then had to go back to have a plate taken out of his collarbone by his heart.

As a result, she said he was given more Percocet. Over time, he went to heroin, before eventually getting clean, and later, attempting to take his life.

One day in 2012, Rapchak said Fritzinger was driving a friend to work in Jersey City when he got into a crash on Interstate 80 after his vehicle hit a concrete barrier.

She said that after the crash, her son began taking medication they gave him from when he tried to take his own life.

Rapchak said the medication made Fritzinger sleep, his lungs filled up with blood and he suffocated.

She said her son’s toxicology showed his body did have Percocet in it.

Regardless of his demons, Rapchak said Fritzinger is blood.

“He is still my son,” she said. “I love him.”

Rapchak said her son was only 31 when he passed away.

“He got addicted to medication,” she said. “It’s an off-and-on battle when you start.”

Hope for necklace

Rapchak said she continues to look for the necklace, and added she would be most grateful if someone were to come across it.

“It would be awesome,” she said. “It’s just something I’m used to every day.”

Rapchak asked anyone who finds the necklace to call her at 610-360-3082.

“I would be ecstatic,” she said. “I would just appreciate that if someone finds it, to return it to the police station.”

Rapchak said people don’t understand what it’s like unless they’ve lost a child of their own.

“I never got to say goodbye to him,” she said. “With the necklace, I always had him right on me.”

Rapchak said that what made the loss of her son even more difficult is he was her only child.

“You can call your child, you can see your child, you can touch them,” she said. “I get to touch his fingerprint; that’s all I have.”