Manitoba woman hoping to reunite remains in thrifted urn with owner

CTV’s Taylor Brock has more on a women’s quest to find the owner of a thrifted urn.

A Manitoba woman is hoping to reunite the remains in a thrifted urn with its rightful owner.

The story began when Hayley Bueckert-Dyck was looking for an urn after her pet cat died.

She ended up finding one for $20 at a Winkler, Man., thrift store on Tuesday. However, Bueckert-Dyck ended up with an unexpected surprise when she discovered the urn was not empty and filled with ashes.

“I was like, I don’t know what to do if this is a person,” she said.

“I still haven’t figured out exactly what to do. I just know that if it’s a person I want to make sure it gets back to where it needs to go and go back to this person’s family if they want them back.”

She even took it to a local funeral home, where they recognized the vessel, but were unable to identify the owner.

Now, Bueckert-Dyck is hopeful someone will reach out and be able to identify the urn. She has put out a call on social media but isn’t sure what she’ll do with the remains if no one comes forward as she doesn’t want them to end up in a landfill.

“The funeral home that I talked to said that they have an area where they can intern ashes at the cemetery that they have,” she explained.

“I also thought like maybe I can scatter them in the Pembina Valley…I haven’t decided what I think is the most respectful thing.”

If you or someone you know may have mistakenly dropped off the urn, you can contact Bueckert-Dyck on Facebook or Wiebe Funeral Homes in Winkler.

“If you can tell me what it looks like, it’s relatively unique looking and if you think this is your person, just let me know because I’d really like them to go back to whoever loved them or cared about them”

- With files from CTV’s Alexandra Holyk