Jamiesfeast – A sad Georgia mother says UPS lost a package with her late 15-year-old son’s ashes inside. The mother will probably never get her son’s ashes back because the mail delivery company told her they had given up looking for the package.
Tangenika Lee recently revealed an audio recording of her conversation with a UPS representative to Atlanta Black Star. In the recording, the UPS representative can be heard informing the distressed mother, “Regrettably, despite our extensive search and investigation, we have been unable to locate your package.”
“Oh God, no,” Lee exclaimed on the recording.
“I’m sorry,” the representative says sympathetically, “but we will have to close this investigation.” The words hit Lee like a punch to the gut, and tears start streaming down their face uncontrollably.
In a phone conversation with Atlanta Black Star on Wednesday, Jim Mayer, a spokesperson for UPS, confirmed that the package containing the ashes of Lee’s son, Deontray, could not be located. He also mentioned that the search for the package has now been completed.
“We have searched extensively for it,” Mayer stated. “However, despite our efforts, we were unable to locate it. Feel free to continue searching, but unfortunately, we were unsuccessful in finding it.”
After her son Deontray passed away in 2020 due to a fentanyl cocktail-related overdose, his mother wanted to commemorate his life by getting a personalized urn for his ashes. In the meantime, his family kept his cremated remains in a box, awaiting the creation of the custom urn.
Last month, Lee, a resident of the Atlanta suburb of Hiram, had Deontray’s ashes shipped via UPS to a relative in Connecticut. The relative was creating a unique and meaningful final resting place for Deontray. Four years had passed since Deontray’s death, and this act allowed his memory to be cherished in a heartfelt and personal way.
The package, labeled as “clothes” on its contents form, was shipped at the beginning of last month. However, despite the promised delivery date of January 10th, it was never honored, as confirmed by Atlanta Black Star.
According to Atlanta Black Star, she received a reimbursement check of $135 from UPS corporate for the lost package. On her Facebook page, she mentioned that she has no plans to cash the check.
“I don’t want a $135 check. What I want is to have my son’s ashes returned to me,” expressed Lee passionately on Facebook.
UPS expressed their condolences to the family for their loss and sincerely apologized for their inability to locate the package, as stated by Mayer in a statement shared with Atlanta Black Star on Wednesday.
UPS understands that the loss of a loved one’s ashes cannot be compensated for with money. This is why we choose not to transport human remains. In this particular case, the package was labeled as containing clothing, so we have reimbursed the estimated value of its contents.