GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Grand Rapids mother is searching for answers after necklaces containing her son's ashes were stolen from her family's vehicle over the weekend.
"We're pleading to return that part of our son. Although the necklaces are just jewelry, they're replaceable, our son's not. That's part of him that's now been taken from us a second time," said Barbara Patton.
In February, Patton lost her 25-year-old son Jaysen to depression. On Thursday, April 18, her son's cremated remains were stolen. After Jaysen passed, the family decided to cremate his body and put his remains in black fishhook cross necklaces to honor his love for fishing.
The family picked up 11 memorial necklaces from a funeral home Thursday and kept them in the truck at their hotel parking lot off of Alpine Avenue in Grand Rapids. By that evening, the necklaces were gone.
The family is heartbroken and all they want is for their son's remains to be returned.
"I don't want to know that there's 11 people walking around with my son and they might not even realize what they are other than a piece of jewelry. They might not even know they have somebody on them," Patton said. "I don't want for someone to see this and say 'oh my goodness, I did this' and then throw them out. Because I don't want my son to be trashed. I want him to be returned."
Patton has even taken her plea to social media, asking anyone who knows anything or sees the necklaces to give them back.
"Just please return them. Even if it's not for us, think of his children. That's something that's like the only piece of him they're gonna have when they're older," said Patton.
The family said if someone does have the necklaces, they can be dropped off at the Grand Rapids police station no questions asked.
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