Put yourself in the shoes of a thief breaking into a car. You’ve busted a window, or popped the lock and now the clock is ticking. You have to get everything you can grab as quickly as possible. It’s probably dark so your visibility is low. Just stuff it all in the bag and sort it out later, right?
Thief Gets More Than He Bargained For
According to MYNorthWest.com, an unidentified criminal in Shoreline, Washington did just this back in May of this year. Imagine his surprise when he discovered that one of the items he had stolen was an urn! He discovered that the urn contained the ashes of the car owner’s deceased pet.
Apparently filled with remorse, the suspect decided to attempt to return the remains to the owner. He wrote a note explaining the situation and included it in the package he had placed the urn in. The suspect then left the package on the steps of the Shoreline Police Department headquarters. This turned out to be perhaps the worst way to get the remains back to the owner.
Police Get an Unwelcomed Surprise
Now imagine you’re a Shoreline police officer. You arrive at headquarters to find a mysterious package sitting on the stairs. What do you do? You call in the bomb squad to investigate. That’s exactly what they did.
King’s County Sheriff’s Bomb Disposal Unit arrived on the scene and assessed the situation.
According to Detective Jason Houck, the unidentified package was destroyed in a controlled blast in order to assure the safety of everyone nearby. It was only after the detonation that the package’s contents were able to be identified. In the proceeding investigation, officers were able to locate the note from the remorseful thief.
The Current Situation
Apparently the thief was only so remorseful. No other stolen goods were included in the package. The urn was the only item returned from the ransacked car.
There are currently no leads on who the identity of the thief or his whereabouts. Detectives are reviewing surveillance video to try to establish who left the package.