Vehicle Stolen From Car Wash Contains Ashes of Owner's Wife

Melvin Hayes couldn't care less about his stolen car -- it's the urn containing his wife's ashes on the backseat that matters.

Hayes, 80, was on his way to get the ashes of his wife, Annamarie -- who died on Nov. 22 -- blessed when he pulled into the Premier Car Wash on Orchard Loop in Elk Grove, according to the Los Angeles Times.

An unwitting attendant released the 2011 Ford Fusion to an unknown woman while Hayes waited. After he inquired into the status of his vehicle, he discovered someone else had it, the newspaper reported.

All he wants back is the urn.

"Someone could dump my wife's ashes in the Sacramento River, or dumpster, or down the sewer," he told the local television affiliate. "There can't be closure when I don't know where her ashes are, or if she's properly buried."

The couple would have celebrated their 49th anniversary in January.