Yeah… Sorry for your loss.
I would link you where it states that this is expected behavior… however can’t post links in postings… so lame.
Anyways on the characters page in “The Arreat Summit - Basics: Character Information” (google that for webpage)
It states
"
If your character has no corpse when he dies, one will be created, and your equipped items will remain on that corpse. If your character already has a corpse, another corpse (up to a maximum of 16) will be created and your most recently equipped items will remain with the new corpse.
Be careful about equipping valuable equipment when you already have a corpse out in the field, if you exit a realm game with more than one corpse on the ground, only the corpse having the most valuable equipment (gold equivalent value) will be saved.
Also, if you die and you already have 16 corpses, your items will fall to the ground, and anyone can take them. Unequipped items, however, will always remain in your inventory.
"
Wish they would give you your items back… I lost everything I had cause of some bug on their end. I chatted with them and they told me nupe… They won’t restore anything, even when they are the ones responsible for the deletion of said items.
Sorry for your loss… gotta be careful when getting your stuff back.