Missing urn becomes two mysteries

Waterford, Conn (WTNH) - Over the years Betsy Bliven has seen a lot of things thrown on her front lawn, but what she found a week or so ago under a bush raised a lot of concerns, especially after she saw one of our reports that very same night.

Betsy Bliven discovered an empty memorial urn outside of her Waterford home.

"I was in the bush, and I said 'let me take this out because it's obviously an urn', and I went in and placed it on top of the television and started watching the news, and there you are talking about an urn. It was just too coincidental," Bliven said.

It may also be a coincidence that Bliven lives just a quarter mile from the Cedar Grove Cemetery in New London, where Barbara Larkie's father was supposed to be buried. In our May 20th story, Larkie told us how she went to add her mother's ashes to his double urn, but it was gone.

"I've been coming here for over 16 years thinking this is my sister and my father. We don't know where he's at. This is not right," said Larkie.

We showed a picture of the recovered urn to Larkie's sister, Robin Curtis.

"This is the picture right here. It's not him. That's definitely not the urn," Curtis said.

So who's urn is it?

"It is troubling for me, because I lost my father last year, and I know his urn is safe at the veteran's cemetery in Middletown. That's why I called immediately," Bliven said.

Now more questions remain.

"Hopefully we'll find him and this will be resolved. Hopefully, whoever that is, somebody will find their family member also," said Curtis.

Curtis says the only reason her family knew their urn was missing is because it was a double urn, and they had wanted to add her mother's ashes to it. She says with a single urn, like the one found, the family may not even know it's missing.