Grieving mother lost her 15-year-old son’s ashes when her car was stolen — then a mysterious doorstep delivery left her stunned
Losing a loved one is painful enough, but for one mother, that grief turned into panic when her stolen car took something even more precious with it. Krystele Matthews, 42, was visiting her grandmother in Chicago when her car was stolen with the ashes of her 15-year-old son, Zahir, inside. In a video shared on her TikTok @krystelethemuva on September 9, 2027, Krystal pleaded to people to help find the ashes. As report by PEOPLE, what happened the next day gave her a reason to believe her son was coming home.
@krystelethemuva Chicago I need help please!! My car was stolen with my sons remains and obituaries in it. Please return my son Zahir Jones ashes. Please don’t disrespect the dead, keep the fucking car just bring his remains back PLEASE #chicago #car #cartheft ♬ original sound - krystelethemuva
Matthews lost her son, Zahir Eitan Jones, in what she described as a "tragic accident" on Aug. 9, and his funeral services were held in Dallas later that month. While visiting her grandmother in Chicago, Matthews left her Chrysler 300 parked outside the family home with Zahir's ashes in the trunk. The next morning, she discovered the car had been stolen. She took to TikTok and made an emotional plea for the ashes to be returned. To her surprise, her family got them back just a day later when someone left the ashes and other keepsakes on their front porch.
The mother had left Zahir's ashes in the trunk because her grandmother wasn't comfortable keeping them inside the house. The next morning, Matthews woke up to find that her car was gone. So were her son's ashes and some of her personal belongings that had been inside the vehicle. The Chicago Police Department confirmed to People that Matthews reported the theft and said Area Four detectives were investigating.
But while police searched for the stolen car, Matthews had one thing on her mind. She turned to TikTok and made an emotional plea for whoever had the ashes to bring them back. "I want my baby back," she said in the video. "I need my baby back. I want my baby back right now." The video quickly spread online, with nearly 200,000 views and thousands of comments offering support and condolences. And just one day after Matthews made her plea, her family got the news they had been hoping for.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the ashes had been returned. Someone left them on the family's front porch along with other keepsakes that had been inside the stolen car. The vehicle itself was still missing, but Matthews had gotten back the one thing she desperately wanted. "I knew he was going to come back," she told the Tribune. "I’m just glad he did."
For Matthews, the return of Zahir's ashes restored a small piece of what had been taken from her. "There really is some morality left in this world," she said. A parent’s grief can be especially painful when the last physical connection to a child is suddenly taken away. In another incident, Stacey Bright’s son Colby’s ashes were stolen from her car, leaving her feeling as though she had "lost him all over again." She publicly pleaded with whoever had taken them to return only the ashes, and 10 days later, an anonymous person did just that, giving her a chance to hold on to the one thing she desperately wanted back.
For more of her content, you can follow @krystelethemuva on TikTok.