Northeast Ohio couple’s ashes stolen before reaching final resting place in California
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio (WJW) – They spent their lives as one for more than 20 years, and their wish was to be buried together for eternity.
But family and friends of a Northeast Ohio couple are devastated after their ashes were stolen before making it to their final resting place in California.
The Clifford-Shoemaker Funeral Home on Front Street in Cuyahoga Falls handled the arrangements for both David and Leslie Hunt.
David died unexpectedly in 2009 at age 61 and Leslie passed away this past December at age 73. A friend was taking their ashes to California when a thief devastated the memorial plans.
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Steve Shoemaker, who owns and manages Clifford-Shoemaker Funeral Home, says he handled the cremations of the married couple who died 14 years apart.
They were co-owners of a popular Cuyahoga Falls restaurant called Hunt’s Bar and Grille.
“Leslie was a personal friend, her and her husband Dave… in fact, his urn sat there on the bar until she passed away,” said Shoemaker.
The couple did not have children, but had plenty of friends.
Friday, one of them, Bob Gallagher and another friend, were taking their cremated remains to a family plot and planned memorial in Huntington Beach, California.
The funeral director says Leslie had made her final arrangements well in advance and she was adamant about California being her final resting place.
“When she passed, everything came into place. We were able to cremate her. I arranged with her friend Bob, who was the one who transferred them out there,” said Shoemaker.
Bob landed at LAX in Los Angeles and stopped at a nearby Denny’s to grab a bite to eat.
But when he returned to his rental car, the back window was smashed and all of his belongings, including his friends’ ashes, were gone.
“There’s no value to it, other than the importance to a family and many close friends of theirs back home where we’re from,” said Gallagher.
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Saturday, someone found a box with David’s remains in a city about 40-miles away from the restaurant.
“We received a call from a dog groomer that they had found Dave’s urn in a parking lot or bush or something along those lines, and they were able to reach out to us through a label on the bottom of the urn, and we were able to talk to Bob and he was able to recover that urn,” said Shoemaker.
Gallagher says they searched the area for Leslie’s urn, but as of Tuesday afternoon, it was still missing.
They are in the same type of box, enclosed in a white container.
“So if that could be returned, we would greatly appreciate it,” pleaded Gallagher.
Gallagher was headed back to Ohio Tuesday afternoon.
He tells FOX 8 that the cemetery will store David’s cremains in hopes that Leslie’s urn will be located soon.
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