Three teens burglarized a home in St. Peters, Missouri. They stole several items from the house, including an urn.
The owner of the home, Deborah Mathews, was shocked to discover she had been robbed, then heartbroken to discover that two of the teens were part of her own family. She could not believe that anyone would steal her father’s ashes, but discovering it was family was even more devastating to her.
If Mathews didn’t have enough to deal with she was then informed that the three teens thought the ashes were cocaine and they snorted them. The two teens had snorted their own grandfather’s ashes, reports FOX 13.
“I just couldn’t believe that they would take the ashes, but you know they were kids and I guess, just stupid,” Mathews said.
Matthews states that her father’s 17-year-old grandson, Devin Gesell, and two other minors stole several items from her home.
“They did that to their grandfather and didn’t even realize it was their grandfather’s ashes. I’m very upset because two of the minors were his grandsons,” Mathews said.
The three teens discovered through Facebook postings that Matthews, was out of town. They broke into her home and got away with nearly $3,000 in cash and valuables and, a box they thought was filled with cocaine, reports KFOR.
The teens did not realize it was not cocaine that they had stolen, but ashes until they tasted/snorted it. Instead of returning the urn to Mathews they tossed out the remains.
“They were scattered out as they were driving down the highway, so we’re never going to be able to recover them,” Mathews said.
Gesell and his two accomplices, who are 15 and 16, were arrested by police and now facing burglary and theft charges.
In a confession Gesell states that he was the lookout while his teen accomplices broke into Matthews’s home and stole $825 in cash and more than $2,000 in various other items including prescription drugs.
This incident took place back in November, but details of the burglary were revealed in a statement by Gesell drafted in connection with the filing last week of charges against him.
Unfortunately this isn’t the first time that ashes have been mistaken for a controlled substance.
Back in 2011, five Florida teens thought that the cremated remains of a man and his two dogs was either cocaine or heroin and snorted the remains before discovering their mistake.
