KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT)-- It's like a story ripped from a Hollywood screen play. A small road in the mountains of Tennessee, a living room in a motor home, and a 150-year-old painting blessed by Pope Leo XIII.
It's "The True Face Of Jesus Christ," one of a handful of paintings based on the cloth used to wipe Jesus' face before his crucifixion, known as the Vail of Veronica.
Its owner is a 73-year-old man who didn't want to be identified. He had no idea what he had.
"Haha, I've lived here for 17 years. It's been in there... or in my bedroom ever since."
So how does a holy relic go from the Holy City to Monroe County?
The man, known as Frosty, tells us he got it as a present and hung it on his wall 20 years ago.
But three years later it found a home in a cloth bank bag and was thrown in a closet.
Until police say Kelly Ghormley stole it and tried to sell it to Saint Joseph the Worker Church in Madisonville.
The church told the sheriff's department, deputies made the arrest, and a piece of religious history was uncovered.