Return of stolen cremated remains sparks bomb scare, colorful misunderstandings and tearful relief

[Ian David]

Ashes returned home again
Her husband's stolen ashes were left where they could be found.

Reed Williams

There were tears in the widow's eyes as she held the box containing her husband's ashes again.

A Roanoke County police detective on Monday returned the remains of Jean Casey's husband nearly a week after a burglar stole them from inside a wooden dresser in her bedroom.

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She would not find out until Saturday, but truck driver Darell Blankenship found the discarded velvet sack Wednesday afternoon on a mulch pile at the Wilco gas station on Orange Avenue near Gus Nicks Boulevard.

He called Roanoke police and reported a suspicious package. "At first," Blankenship recalled, "we thought it was a bomb."

An officer figured out what it was and took it to the Roanoke Police Department.

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The cashier tracked down Jerry Casey Jr. that evening. His mother said she called Roanoke County police but was upset when they said they could not help until Monday morning.

Between midnight and 1 a.m. Sunday morning, Casey and her other son went to the Roanoke Police Department to reclaim the remains, but misidentified the box. The sack is maroon, and she said she could have sworn it had been plain red.

Authorities on Monday contacted the business that had performed the cremation and confirmed that the ashes were those of Jerry Casey Sr. by looking at an identification number inside the box.

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