BELLVILLE – The contents of an urn found in a creek in Bellville in November have been identified as pet remains, according to the Richland County Sheriff’s Office.
David Pike, 46, found the urn when he went down to a creek on Alexander Road to wash his hands. A report was filed with the RCSO on Nov. 4.
On Feb. 8, technicians from the Sheriff’s Lab were directed to open the urn in hopes of locating a tag containing information that could help identify the contents. The only thing found in the urn was a plastic bag with ashes or remains. No other information was found to help identify the contents.
On March 29, Lori Simmons, the owner of Kap-Lind Enterprises from Fenton, Missouri, contacted the Sheriff’s Office after reading a story about the unidentified urn. Simmons recognized the “Roman” style urn as one that was made by her company.
Simmons told authories the size of the urn likely indicated it was used for pet remains, not human remains. She suggested that authorities call local pet cemeteries to see if they had any records of an urn with the specific engravings.
Angel Refuge Pet Cemetery and Crematory in Ontario confirmed that the urn came from their business and contained the remains of a pet. They also identified the pet’s owner who was from Bellville and had passed away in 2002. It’s unknown how the urn ended up in the creek.
Originally, the search focused on the urn containing human remains. Authorities checked with the local coroner’s office, health department and names in the community in an attempt to identify the remains. The urn contained the engravings “Casey Shaun” and indicated he was born June 1986 and died April 1998.
The urn remains in the Sheriff’s Office’s property room and its fate has yet determined.
