WARREN, Mich. – A Warren woman trying to rebuild her life says her car was stolen from her apartment complex over the weekend, with her father’s ashes inside.
Days later, the vehicle is still missing, and so is the urn she planned to place at her mother’s grave.
“It’s been really rough,” Shelia Horn, who lives at the Parkview Tower Apartments in Warren, said. “I haven’t slept in days.”
Horn said she walked out of her building looking for her 2019 Kia Forte where she usually parked it, and instantly knew something was wrong.
“I’m like, ‘Oh my God. Oh my gosh,’” Horn said. “I walked out of my place, and I knew I parked right here. I saw other cars. Not mine.”
At first, Horn said she thought she might have parked somewhere else by mistake.
“I’m like click, click, click, my key fob,” she said. “I still walked around the building click, click, click and I didn’t see it.”
That’s when a second, even more devastating realization set in.
“I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. My dad’s in my car,’” Horn said. “That was the worst part of the whole thing, was realizing my dad, he was still in the car.”
By “dad,” Horn means her father’s cremated remains, which were in an urn in the backseat. She said she had placed the urn there because she was planning to take it to her mother’s grave.
“He was wonderful. He was the best grandpa ever,” Horn said, describing her father, Ron. “My kids just loved him, especially my oldest. That was Papa’s bug, Papa’s little bug. And I miss him a lot.”
Horn has filed a police report and is pleading with whoever took her car to return both the vehicle and the ashes.
“I really just hope that someone brings my car and my dad,” she said.
The Warren Police Department confirmed the case remains an active investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to contact them.
Horn’s family has also set up a fundraiser to help her during this difficult time. Details on how to contribute can be found here.
