Stupid question, but are you really really sure that it's not still in your recycle bin? If it's just gone in the last few days.......you probably haven't emptied the recycle bin. Surely. Or sometimes you can grab things by accident and dump them somewhere extraordinary, only to find them 6 months later when you're looking for something else. Run a search for a jpeg that you definitely know is in the folder, and you might be able to find the whole thing. Commiserations and group hugs :(