Even thieves have hearts, apparently.
A Monrovia man pleaded Monday for the return of a heart made of his late wife's ashes, which was stolen from his home, on NBC4 News at 11 p.m., and on Tuesday, Donny Arthur found an unmarked package on his porch.
After ignoring the package a couple times over, Arthur opened the manila envelope to find that it contained several of his watches and, most importantly, the heart made with the ashes of his wife, who died unexpectedly.
"It's almost like it happened all over again; I lost her a second time," Arthur shared with NBC4 Monday night.
The widower said his wife was healthy one day, in a coma the next. Thirty days later, she had passed away.
Whenever he wasn't feeling right, Arthur would clutch to the heart, specially made with his wife's ashes. So, after getting laid off, he went to find his heart. Only, it wasn't there, with the stand knocked over and the wedding rings underneath it also gone.
What meant most to Arthur, though, was that the heart made of with his wife's ashes was gone.
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Friends at the Mount Lowe Brewing Company, where Arthur found comfort after losing his wife, put out public pleas to help find the missing invaluable item.
"Just knowing that somebody else has it is not right," Arthur said about the missing ashes Monday night. "It's supposed to be with me. It's supposed to be with me forever. I vowed to love her with my life, not just hers."
On Tuesday, Arthur said he noticed the package sitting on his porch. After walking by it a couple times, he picked it up and noticed no markings. Feeling it, he began to believe that the heart was inside--his heart was inside.
So, he decided to record opening the package. After pulling out his missing watches, there it was.
"I can't describe it," Arthur told NBC4 Tuesday as he held the heart in his hands. "It just calms me. Even just holding and feeling the weight of the glass in my hand and the smoothness, it just brings me comfort."
Arthur thanked the community for helping, saying having it back meant the world to him.
"It's whole, it's not broken and it just made me so happy," he said.
The widower added, "I'm doing OK. I'm better now."
