Sara Carpenter feels like she has lost her son for the second time.
She mourned the loss of her baby when he died three hours after he was born prematurely several years ago, but now she is missing him again after a break-in at her Hurd Street home over the Christmas holidays.
The young mother was devastated when her neighbour called her on Dec. 16 to tell her someone had been in her home. Carpenter and her family were in Alberta visiting her mom for Christmas and didn’t return immediately to investigate the situation. Her neighbour changed the locks and promised to monitor her home while he continued to look after her family’s dog.
When Carpenter returned to Mission with her young daughter and husband over the weekend, she found her flute, computer and all her jewelry had been stolen. But the only missing item she wept over was a small, brass, heart-shaped urn which contained the ashes of her son. It had his name “Zayne” and the word “peanut” engraved on it.
It was sitting on a shelf in the kitchen at the heart of the home, and Carpenter desperately wants it back.
“It was like they took things important to us,” said Carpenter, who suspects her family knows the thief, but doesn’t have any evidence.
She has asked around and checked local pawn shops, but has come up empty-handed, and now she’s asking for the public’s help. She contacted the police, but there is little they can do, she says. Her friend Jaci Turner has set up a Facebook page to help her find the urn, and anyone with information about it or wants to return it, can find Turner at Grace Station, 32965 Lougheed Highway.
“No questions will be asked,” she said.