Home Burglars Return Stolen Ashes

DALLAS - When Mary Potter got home from work Tuesday, she said the back door was open and the freezer was almost bare.

“I think they left me a half pint of ice cream. That’s it,” she said. “They had gone through here, these cabinets, so I guess they were hungry thieves.”

The burglars also put her dog, 13-year-old Boomer, in the bathroom before taking jewelry from her bedroom.

But a missing urn which contained her mother’s ashes upset her the most. She said it could have been mistaken for a jewelry box except that it was labeled.

“I knew then that she was gone. Anything else could be replaced, but not her,” Potter said.

Potter’s mother died 10 years ago on Christmas. She thought she’d lost her again until someone returned the urn overnight.

“I got up at 4:30 to let the dog out and I saw something against my gate,” Potter said. “I let out a scream that Mamma’s back! It was like Christmas day. I was so glad to get it and I opened it up to see if she was still in it and she was.”

Dallas police now hope they can get fingerprints from the urn and maybe get the rest of the items back.

But Potter is just relieved to know the burglars had somewhat of a conscious. And she’s glad they didn’t hurt Boomer.

“I am so glad to get my mother’s ashes back,” she said.