Thief Steals Dog's Ashes From Mansfield Home
MANSFIELD (CBS) - A Mansfield woman felt proud she defended herself against an intruder, but was devastated when she realized what he took.
Caitlin Troy says she arrived home and saw a thief coming down the back stairs with two pillow cases full of electronics and jewelry.
What she didn't realize was that the thief had also grabbed a jewelry box that contained the ashes of her beloved dog Gizmo, who died last year.
"I yelled for him to stop, and that's when I started to run after him, probably not the smartest thing to do," she said.
Troy says her instinct to chase him might have come from classes in self defense she's been taking. And she almost caught up with him through the woods.
"I wasn't sure what was going to happen once I got to him," she said.
The thief actually dropped the bags one street away from her home, but the box with the remains was gone.
When Troy got home and saw the missing box it was clear to her what had happened.
"He was everything to me," she said about her dog. "Who knows if he was desperate enough to do something with the box and leave the bag with ashes inside somewhere else."
She hopes the box is in a nearby yard, and has posted a picture in the neighborhood of the sentimental remains, uneasy to be separated from the pet she had for fifteen years.
"It's only valuable to me, not worth anything to anyone else," she said.
