Manon Care holds a photo of herself, her mother Charlotte, and daughter of the same name.
(CHARLOTTE HELSTON / iNFOnews.ca)
May 13, 2014 - 2:28 PM
VERNON - A Vernon woman is pleading to have her mother’s ashes returned after they were stolen in a break and enter.
“I can’t even focus on anything else, I’ll do anything to get my mother back,” Manon Care says. “I feel more violated than when she passed away a couple months ago.”
Care kept her mother’s ashes in a temporary container; a box inside a blue velour bag on top of a wine rack, next to her father’s ashes.
“My dad is facing outside so he can see the view he always loved. It’s like a little shrine,” Care says. “We were going to find a beautiful vase and mix my mother with my dad so they could be together.”
The thief who broke into her home on Copper Mountain Court through the back patio door sometime during the day on May 12 also snatched electronic items, cash, jewelry and a few boxes of wine around the rack that held Care’s parents.
“I don’t care about those other things, I have insurance. Everything else will take care of itself. I just want my mother back,” Care says. “I don’t think the person knows what they have.”
Her mother’s name, Charlotte, is inside the bag, and a small mesh pouch containing her wedding bands are attached to it. Care named her daughter after her mom and says her dad, who passed away in 1999, was her best friend.
“We were very close. I need them close to me, I don’t want to bury them,” Care says.
She’s making a public appeal to the person who stole the ashes to return them by leaving them in a public place with a note.
Cpl. Gerry Kovaks says the Vernon RCMP are continuing to investigate the break and enter. Anyone with information about this crime is asked to contact the Vernon RCMP at 250-545-7171 or remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800- 222-8477.
To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infotelnews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
—This story was updated at 1:30 p.m. to include an interview with Manon Care.
News from © iNFOnews, 2014