Man's ashes were in box |
LYNNWOOD—
Cops say a blackmail scheme backfired for a man who somehow ended up with the ashes of a Lynnwood family's dead father.Last Wednesday, Ken Heggen's daughter April McCoy came to go through his things at his Lynnwood home when she made a shocking discovery that her father's urn with his ashes inside had been stolen.
Police say Sunday night, a man started calling all of the Heggen's he could kind, until he stumbled upon Ken Heggen's father, who is not in his 90s. After some confusion, the family realized the man was offering the ashes back, but only if they paid up.
So the family played along and set up a meeting at a gas station in Everett for the exchange, while at the same time alerting police about what was about to go down. The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office says they nabbed the suspect, and while he did have the ashes on him, he didn't have the urn. Now the question is whether he was involved for the burglary itself, and where did the urn end up.
The family believes whoever originally took the urn last Wednesday, thought it was a jewelry box. Cops told April she probably scarred the criminals off.
"They probably heard my car pull in and they ran downstairs and then went out the backdoor," said McCoy.
David says the crooks loaded all of the stolen goods into their car that was in the backyard.
"They were parked right out here, you can still see the tire marks on the grass," said McCoy.
Ken Heggen built his house on Lake Stickney with his own two hands, but the crooks stole the tools he used. David says they also took family heirlooms and other items that showed Heggen's love of boating.
"This is Grandpa's and this is what he took pride in and they took it all," said Heggen.
Ken died of cancer in October, his wife Judy passed away in March. David hopes the burglary doesn't cost them something else.
"Now, try to figure out how we're going to make the house payments, because the things we were going to use to sell aren't there," said McCoy.
The family should now be able to grant their father his final wish to have his ashes spread out on Puget Sound, even without the earn.
Meanwhile, the man arrested at the gas station will face stolen property charges.
