Ruskin family furious after woman’s ashes lost in the mail

RUSKIN, Fla. (WFLA) – For Amanda Narehood, the grief of losing her mother to cancer in July is still raw and making the pain even worse, she knows that part of her mother’s ashes is lost somewhere after the U.S. Postal Service lost track of her package.

“It’s emotional because she’s out there somewhere, and I don’t know where she is, so I just want to find her,” Narehood said.

Christine Bish passed away suddenly from cancer in July. Narewood said she had just recently learned that her mother had cancer, and she was shocked by the death. She decided to have some of her mother’s ashes made into an orb night light.

“I thought it would comfort me to know she was always there with me,” Narewood said, explaining that she chose the piece called Northern Lights because her mother talked often talked about the Northern Lights.

She coordinated with the funeral home to send the ashes to an artist in Seattle. The only legal way to send ashes is through the U.S. Postal Service.

Delivery was scheduled by 3 p.m., July 24, but tracking information shows the package didn’t even leave Tampa until 9:52 p.m. on the same day. It’s been missing ever since.

This comes at a time the postal service is under Congressional scrutiny, as operational changes have slowed mail delivery.

Narehood is thankful that her father still has the urn containing most of her mother’s ashes, but she says her mother will not be complete until her portion of the ashes is found.

The family has been waiting for answers for 10 weeks and Narehood said she’s losing hope but is still determined to find her mother. She’s disheartened by the postal service’s response.

“They said basically there’s nothing else they can do,” Narehood said. “They can’t find the package, they can’t keep the case open forever, so they registered it as resolved. But it’s not resolved. It’s still out there missing.”

A spokesman for the postal service sent this statement:

“The Postal Service always strives to provide the best possible service to our customers.  In this instance, we first wish to offer our condolences to the family and a sincere apology for the unintended delay in delivering this important package.  We are keenly aware of the desire to locate the parcel as soon as possible.  We regret that, to date, the package has not been located.  We are committed to an ongoing and vigilant search and will continue working with the customer to resolve this matter.”