An 80-year-old California man is seeking the car with his wife's ashes in the back seat after the vehicle was stolen.
Melvin Hayes was en route on Wednesday to a priest to have his late wife's ashes blessed when he stopped for a car wash, where a woman later stole his 2011 red Ford Fusion, USA TODAY reported via News10.
The man's wife had died less than three weeks ago after almost 50 years of marriage, according to Officer Michael Bradley of the California Highway Patrol.
A woman, described as black, short, heavy-set and in her 40s, walked up to Hayes in the Sacramento car wash and struck up a conversation.
"She hugged me a couple times. I couldn't imagine why," Hayes said.
The woman asked for money to purchase a soda, so Hayes gave her some change.
"I said I don't have any single bills, but I got a pocket full of change," he said. "And I gave her enough money to buy the soda pop."
He told authorities afterward that he believed the conversation was intended to make people at the car wash believe the two were in a relationship.
The performance apparently went well--the car wash employees handed the keys over to the woman, who likely stole Hayes' claim ticket around noon on Wednesday.
"We thought that they were together as girlfriend or something," said General Manager Victor Vosburgh of Premier Car Wash.
"She ended up with his ticket and went out front, and my inspector asked for the ticket, got a ticket that was the car, the license number, and he released the keys to her," Vosburgh said.
Hayes came later to pick up his car, only to realize it had been stolen with the urn containing his wife's ashes in the back seat.
"I went looking for the attendant. They said, 'oh your girlfriend drove the car away,'" Hayes told News10.
"Nothing else matters. I just want to get my wife's ashes back," he said.
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