Thief returns man’s mother’s stolen ashes, keeps his custom car

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (WFLA) — It was a thief in the night, and Larry Carter Jr. can’t believe he slept through it all.

“I ain’t hear no horn, nothing. Car didn’t crank. I would have heard it,” he said.

Carter said somebody took out the passenger window of his 2023 limited edition Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye Jailbreak. He believes they rolled the car out of his neighborhood in Winter Haven, then started the engine.

“It was special, you know, it’s last call. Got my mother’s name. Got Jesus on both sides,” said Carter. “It was meant for her. That’s the main reason I got that car because of her, to represent her.”

A sign on the back windshield of the car said “In Loving Memory of Lorena Leonard,” Carter’s late mother who passed away in March 2019.

Carter said he didn’t take the car out very often but when he did, his mother came with him.

He kept some of her ashes in the cupholder, and those ashes were also stolen.

“She meant the world. She meant the world, actually her and my dad really. I felt like, when I lost both of them, I feel like I wasn’t nobody. I feel like I ain’t have nobody. They were in my corner,” he said.

Carter immediately called police. He called again on Tuesday morning after he found his mother’s ashes hanging out of his mailbox.

“Good thing they did brought it back because that car was special for her. So, without having her ashes, I felt like I’m a failure,” said Carter.

Carter said he worked to preserve the evidence.

“I took my shirt and I closed it, closed the lid because I didn’t want to put my fingerprints on it,” he said.

Winter Haven police officers came to canvas the neighborhood and collect the new evidence Tuesday.

While Carter is still holding out hope he will get his custom car back, he is relieved to be reunited with his mother’s ashes, a priceless possession.

“They got some good heart. They still got a good heart, but just their mind messed up,” said Carter. “Whoever it was, still got a good heart. It’s all Him.”

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