'Just couldn't believe it': Chicago woman gets sister's ashes found in U-Haul truck
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It's not the kind of thing you would expect to misplace: human ashes.
But that's exactly what U-Haul staff in Logan Square found in one of their trucks and that discovery set off a big search. Sara Machi has the story you'll see Only on 2.
You can imagine how surprising it would be find ashes left in the back of a U-Haul truck. But staff weren't the only ones who were surprised.
Because we found out -- the deceased's family members had no idea the ashes were missing.
"I loved her and the Lord blessed me and he...he brought her back to me."
CBS 2 was there as Maria Gaude and her husband picked up the wooden box with Maria's sister's ashes at an unlikely place: A U-Haul station in Logan Square.
The youngest sister of their 11 siblings, Laura Rodriguez died in December 2021 with the family giving Laura's ashes to the boyfriend who had taken care of her while she battled cancer.
"He said, 'don't worry, Maria, I'll take good care of her.' And I said 'I know you will. I know she's in good hands if you got her, Gus,;" Gaude said.
She said Laura's ashes somehow ended up in the back of a U-Haul, a discovery that then set off the search for family, including a social media post and a call from a funeral home.
"They asked me first if I was a relative of Laura's and I said yes I am. And then they just told me the strangest thing that don't make no sense. That my sister ashes were on some U-Haul truck. And I'm like oh my god," said Gaude.
Maria said it's still unclear why the ashes ended up basically abandoned."
"I was just shocked and I was hurt. And I just couldn't believe it," Gaude said, but she added a higher power brought them back together.
"This is a very miraculous story. So people out there, just don't give up on hope," Gaude said.
And she is hopeful she'll get one more call -- from the man who she trusted with her sister's ashes.
"I hope and pray that he is well, and when he gets better and wants to communicate with me, I still have the same number," Gaude said.
A staff member said they have never seen anything like this before. Another employee said he believed Laura Rodriguez's boyfriend was there earlier Friday to claim the ashes, but was in so much distress, that he suffered some kind of cardiac episode and was taken by first responders to the hospital.