Loved ones receive ‘shocking’ surprise in keepsake urn ordered from Amazon

MESA, Ariz. (KPHO/Gray News) — A family in Arizona says they received an unexpected delivery while preparing to lay their grandmother to rest.

Ashleigh Wegner said her grandma, Dorothy Kuspis, died May 27 at 98. She says her family expected the loss, but her death still hit hard.

“She lived a good life,” Wegner said. “So it wasn’t a surprise, but it was kind of a shock when it happened.”

Loved ones said they began making arrangements in the days that followed, including selecting an urn.

Wegner said her mother and uncles chose an urn for Kuspis, and the family also set aside a small portion of cremated remains for close relatives.

According to Wegner, they decided to purchase a small keepsake urn, a brass heart, from Amazon.

“It came within a couple of days,” Wegner said. “When I opened it, it was just a little dusty.”

Then, she said, the process took a disturbing turn.

“I unscrewed the back and that’s when I noticed it still had remains inside of it,” Wegner said.

The family said the urn appeared to be new but was caked with ashes that did not belong to their grandmother.

“I was shocked,” Wegner said. “I was kind of grossed out. I was uncomfortable.”

Wegner said this was not the first time she had encountered unidentified cremated remains.

“We’ve had a similar past situation,” she said. “A few years back, my husband and I came across a box of ashes in an alleyway where we lived.”

She said they turned those remains over to the sheriff’s office, which located the family.

“They said they weren’t interested, or for whatever reason, they just didn’t want the remains,” Wegner said.

Wegner said she and her husband then spread those ashes in the Arizona mountains.

Now, she said, they plan to do something similar with the ashes found inside the keepsake urn because she does not want them to end up back in circulation.

“I didn’t want it to end up on the warehouse shelf again and have somebody else make a purchase and have it accidentally get shipped to someone else in a moment like this,” Wegner said.

According to Wegner, she contacted Amazon and was told she would receive a refund. She also said she reached out to the third-party seller but did not immediately receive a response.

Wegner said she has since received a replacement keepsake urn.