Parents' ashes, military flag recovered after car stolen on day of Greeley funeral

Kim Magnusson's husband returned from the parking lot and said, "Where's the car?"

The funeral for her parents was in an hour and a half, and the day was off to a terrible start.

It wasn't until she watched the surveillance video recording of the night before that she discovered the car had been stolen.

"He was in the car and gone in two minutes," Magnusson said.   

The car was a Hyundai Tucson, one of the models vulnerable to easy break-in using a USB cord, as seen on social media. More irritating, the car had just been in the dealership for a different recall.

Now it was gone. And so were the remains of her parents, her father's military service flag, their old photos, and a host of other keepsakes.

The funeral went on as planned - without mom and dad.

"We had to tell the entire family. It was pretty hard," Magnusson said. "We have had a good sense of humor about it - 'our parents are on their last joyride together.' But we had no real hope of finding them."  

Afterward, Magnusson left northern Colorado where she had grown up and returned to Texas. 

That was late April. 

A month later, Magnusson, received a phone call at the beginning of the Memorial Day weekend. It raised her hopes.

The car had been found.

A Hudson Police Department officer located the Hyundai in the parking lot of the Love's Travel Stop on the northeast side of town. And inside the truck stop, a man whom officers arrested. 

But the car, though driveable, was trashed inside. The door lock, steering column and ignition were damaged. And mom and dad were no where to be found. 

"It's really devastating." Magnusson felt victimized all over again. "We really couldn't care less about the car, to be honest. It was all about finding my parents."

Greeley PD Detective Jerry Burroughs interviewed the suspect in jail the next day, then called Magnusson.

"He said, 'I talked to the guy who had the car, he's given me an address," Magnusson recalled. "We're gonna go over there.'"

But once again, disappointment. The cardboard box which the suspect said he had filled with the keepsakes and left in the garage was not found.   

A day later, however, the residents of that house called police. They had found the box. Police quickly picked it up.

"It's huge," Magnusson said. "My parents had to be together and be where the family can visit them. It's definitely a relief to have them back. We're so excited, so thankful to all the law agencies involved."  

Tom Lobato grew up in northern Colorado, living mostly in Pierce and Ault. He passed away in April at the age of 79. His wife, Lorraine, died seven years earlier. 

Magnusson said they will be interred in Greeley next June on their anniversary.