Man gets wife's stolen cremated remains back after neighbor punched thief in ...
LOS ANGELES - A California man whose beloved wife's newly cremated remains were stolen Sunday during a home burglary got them back Monday after a neighbor reportedly punched the thief in the face.
Art Pauly, 44, told the Press Enterprise newspaper that he came home from his hospital job Sunday night and found that a burglar had tossed a concrete bird bath through a sliding-glass window and raided his Highland, Calif., house.
The heartless robber stole a computer, big-screen television, two jewelry boxes - and the mahogany box and purple velvet bag that contained the divided ashes of his wife of 23 years.
Ann Pauly , 62, had died three weeks earlier in her sleep, and her funeral was set for Saturday.
Pauly was devastated.
"She was my rock. I was her rock," Pauly told the Press Enterprise.
He said Ann, who was ill for years, had picked out the mahogany box with a gold top herself.
The two tablespoons of ashes placed in the 4-inch-tall urn inside the velvet bag were meant for the couple's son, David, who is in the Navy.