Disturbing the graves of the deceased is truly one of the lowest levels of inhumanity one can achieve. Yet, one man in Mesa, Arizona, raised the bar for how heartless a person can be when he waltzed into a funeral after a mother had been cremated and stole her ashes. The random stranger didn’t sneak into the place like a robber, but instead pretended to be family to be granted permission to drive off with the woman’s remains.
The Arizona mother had died just a month ago, according to 12News, so clearly the family is still grieving her passing. One of her sons had power of attorney to pick up her ashes from the funeral home after cremation. But the mysterious man who had retrieved the deceased’s remains was neither the brother nor a member of the family. The funeral home employee who spoke with the man was supposed to ask for identification, but apparently failed to do so, despite it being a company rule.
No One Can Imagine Why Anyone Would Steal Cremated Ashes
“That’s my mom. That’s the only thing I’ve left of her. To see him take them like that and put them in his car, it just feels wrong,” the late mother’s son stated mournfully. Fortunately, the local police have gotten involved and are investigating the case along with the funeral home. Still, the fact that this incident happened at all is both awful and unimaginably bizarre.
One Redditor claiming to be a friend of the woman’s nephew posted the story on r/mildlyinfuriating, explaining the situation. “Why would anyone do that?” asked a commenter in disbelief. “That’s not mildly infuriating. It’s ghoulish and I’d be beyond livid,” remarked another. “How could someone cause a family more pain like this, what an absolute sicko,” exclaimed a third.
Theft of cremated ashes isn’t something new to Arizona. Back in 2022, a husband’s ashes were stolen from the surviving wife’s garage in Chandler. Further back in 2017, a woman in Tucson had her dad’s ashes taken from her porch. However, neither of these incidents seems to be as intentional as the man in Mesa, who went as far as lying that he was a family member of the late mother. Hopefully, the police get to the bottom of it all, and the family gets their mom’s remains back.
