mail and recovered message

I am running OS 10.6.8 on a MacBook; I have an imap account through AIM at AOL.
I tried to send too large a file a week ago and the Mail program started acting oddly. It keeps "Recovering Files" , not the too large file, but the one I sent after that. But it recovers it over and over.. 6 or 8 times, before I stop it. I have deleted every copy of the file from AOL that I can find, and have gone into the Mail Library on my computer, found copies of the file under Sent Messages, Deleted Messages, Recovered Messages and deleted them, deleted the trash, but if I let Mail go on line, it will pick up the file again and start all over. What can I do?