Sacramento family seeks return of mother's urn bought in storage unit auction
SACRAMENTO — A Sacramento family has a desperate plea to get their mother's ashes returned after the urn they were in was bought in a storage unit auction.
Whoever has it may not even realize it.
The ashes are the remains of Melody Fox's mother.
"We would be grateful to be able to lay our mother to rest," Fox said. "And it would be so wonderful if this could happen by Thanksgiving so we could have her at our dinner table."
Janice Fox died earlier this year at 74 after a full life raising seven children on her own. She leaves behind 26 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren.
"My fear is someone just threw it away and my mother's in the garbage can somewhere, and that's just devastating," Melody said.
Janice wished to have her ashes scattered on a Greek mountaintop, where she had spent part of her youth.
"She said that was the place that made her feel most at home in the whole entire world, and that is where she wanted her ashes laid," Fox said.
"So how did your mom's ashes wind up in this storage unit," CBS13's Steve Large asked.
"My younger sister was having a very hard time losing my mother, and she's in between housing in her life," Melody said.
The ashes went into a storage unit on Florin Road. The company CubeSmart Self Storage has rules prohibiting the storage of items with special or sentimental value.
When the family missed rent, the unit was put up for auction and all its contents were purchased together, including the urn.
Attorney Candice Fields said this is a case where the law can not help the Fox family.
"There's not a good legal remedy," she said. "There's no code that says except for that urn, hold that back and give it back to the family."
A manager at CubeSmart said they have contacted the buyer who told them they do not know where the ashes are.
"I feel that if we were able to get her ashes back and get them to Greece, I think she could rest in peace and her spirit be free," Melody said.