Arlecia Hanson of Parkland, Wash., is missing her most precious possession — her late husband's ashes.
She returned to her home Friday afternoon to discover that the back door had been kicked in. The thief had seized her laptop, a jarful of change, a silver necklace and a wooden box containing the remains of Randy Hanson, who passed away from cancer complications at 52.
"It was like losing him all over again," said Arlecia Hanson, 45, who has kept the box at her bedside since her husband’s death in March 2005. "It was something I could still touch and talk to."
The box is made of light oak wood and has a base measuring about 10 inches by 7 inches. A Mount Rainier scene is etched on the side.
The couple planned to have their ashes buried in a plot in Lyman, next to Arlecia's mother.
"I promised him that we would be together, and I'm not able to do that for him now," the widow said.
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