EL MONTE - Virginia Mejia was at a Victory Outreach Church in East Los Angeles earlier this month when a thief stole the 1991 Honda Accord she called home.
The car contained all her possessions, including an urn with the ashes of her mother, Dolores Kathleen Garcia. Authorities later found the car but it was empty.
"A week went by and I felt really hopeless," Mejia said.
On Monday, El Monte police reunited the homeless woman with the urn, after it had turned up at an El Monte church. Police didn't name the church but said a man wearing socks on his hands dropped the urn off there on July 22.
The man told church officials he wanted to do the right thing so the urn could be returned to its family. Police suspect he covered his hands to avoid leaving fingerprints.
When officers couldn't find the owner, police asked for the public's help Friday. Detective Jack Rodriguez said calls came in from people missing urns. Then someone from Fox 11 News called.
Rodriguez said the caller remembered a story the station covered in which a car with an urn was stolen. The victim was Mejia.
Mejia described the urn to Rodriguez and on Monday showed him a picture of it along with paperwork from a mortuary.
"I am thankful I got it back," she said.
Her 67-year-old mother lived in South Gate and died last year after being hit by a car, according to Mejia, who works as a mail sorter in Carson.
"She was loved by everyone and missed," Mejia said.
Mejia wants the thief to be prosecuted. She said the suspect took not only the urn and the car, but also clothing, shoes, pictures of the funeral of her mother and husband, several birth certificates and her mother's death certificate.
Police don't know if the person who stole the car is the man who turned up at the El Monte church with Garcia's ashes.
The man who left the urn was described as a Latino, about 45 years old, 5-feet-5-inches tall, 160 pounds, with black hair in a long pony tail, brown eyes and a mustache. He may have tattoos on his chest.
Anyone with information about the man is asked to call Rodriguez at 626-580-2146.
626-962-8811, ext. 2230
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