Cremated Remains Returned To Theft Victims

On Wednesday, April 12, 2017, at approximately 5:00 PM, tourists from North Carolina returning to their rental car parked in a parking lot located on the 500 block of Beach Street discovered their car had been broken into and their luggage stolen. One of the items inside the luggage was a container wrapped in a velvet bag that held the cremated remains of their deceased family member. The victims filed an online police report, and later met with officers to conduct a thorough investigation in the hopes of locating their loved one’s remains.

Central Station Investigators quickly identified an adult male as a person of interest. On Saturday, April 15, 2017 at approximately 2:20 PM Central Station plain clothes officers working an auto burglary abatement operation spotted the person of interest and made contact with him at Chestnut and Montgomery Streets. During the investigation, the subject told the officers the location of the container. The subject contacted a friend who later met the officers with the container. The officers seized the container, the contents of which appeared intact. The subject was detained and later released pending further investigation. Due to the ongoing investigation, the identity of the detained person of interest is not being released at this time.

The Central Station Investigation Team Lieutenant contacted the victims and notified them of the recovered container. At Central Station the victims identified the cremated remains by the container and the velvet bag and the officers reunited them accordingly.

This incident is still an ongoing investigation. SFPD is asking anyone with information on this case to contact the San Francisco Police anonymously at 415-575-4444 or text-a-tip to TIP411 with SFPD at the start of the message.