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Woman says her husband's cremated remains are being held for ransom

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Published  January 11, 2023 11:38pm EST
Woodstock
FOX 5 Atlanta

Woman says she was scammed out of her husband's ashes

In a bizarre case, a woman who lost her husband a few years ago says a dreadful scam has taken him away from her again. She says someone is holding his remains hostage, and now she may never get to see his ashes again.

WOODSTOCK, Ga - A woman who lost her husband a few years ago is warning others about a dreadful scam.

Jocelyn Cronin thought she finally found the perfect thing to do with her husband's ashes, but she says it turned out to be a scam.

John Cronin was a firefighter for 30 years. He died from a heart attack in 2019.

"He was supposed to be my forever partner. We were married for 32 years when I lost him," said Jocelyn Cronin.

Last month, Jocelyn commented on a post on TikTok about a woman preparing to spread a loved one's ashes. The woman responded that she wanted to give Jocelyn some artwork using John's ashes.

"I thought it was a lovely idea. They instructed me I would need to send all my husband’s ashes, put them in a Ziploc bag," said Jocelyn.

Jocelyn, who lives in California, was told to send them to an address in Woodstock, Georgia. She did and a couple of days later, she got an email from what claimed to be Cambodian Customs.

"It said, ‘We have seized your husband's ashes and portrait, it's illegal. If you want to get them back you need to pay $3,756.’ And right there, I knew I had been scammed," she said.

Since then, she has been bombarded with text messages, demanding money, and threatening to destroy the ashes.

Jocelyn posted about it on social media. Another woman told her she fell for the same scam and shipped her grandmother's ashes to the same address in Woodstock. That woman called the Woodstock Police Department. An officer went to the address and found that woman's ashes.

Police believe the address was random and the people who live there were not connected with this scam.

Police did not find John Cronin's ashes at the address. Joceclyn does not know where they are and is not sure if she will ever get them back.

Fortunately, she still has some of John's ashes in pendant she wears around her neck, others are kept in a firefighter urn on her mantle.

She wanted to get her story out, so others do not fall prey to the scammers.

"This is unconscionable that someone would sink this low to scam someone out of human remains for their loved one," said Jocelyn.

The Petaluma Police Department in California, where Jocelyn lives, posted about the scam on their Facebook page to warn others.

Jocelyn has also contacted the FBI.