Teens Steal, Snort Cremated Remains

Five Florida teenagers were arrested after breaking into a home and snorting ashes of dead man and two dogs, which they mistook for cocaine and heroin.

In December, a group of teenage boys broke into the Marion County home she had recently moved into and stole a TV, Blu-ray player, laptop computer, jewelry — and the ashes of the dogs and her father. Then the bad luck got even stranger. The Marion County Sheriff's Office said the burglars snorted some of the ashes — it's unknown which — thinking they were cocaine or crushed pills. When they didn't get high, the boys showed the ashes to a friend, who guessed that they were concrete mix and kept one of the boxes to use. When the local newspaper published a story about the missing ashes, the boys threw two of the boxes containing them in Magic Lake in Gail D. Helvie Park in Silver Springs Shores, the Sheriff's Office said. This morning, a sheriff's dive team pulled out the boxes. Inside were bags with he ashes of one of the dogs and Tencza's late father, Grant Day, who died in 1993. Three street signs from other burglaries in the same street also were recovered in the garbage at the lake. Tencza picked up the remains at a sheriff's substation about 12:30 p.m. "It was a little overwhelming when I got there," said Tencza, 35, a licensed practical nurse. "The electronics can all be replaced. You can't replace your loved ones, your father or your dogs that were like family members." On Tuesday, deputies arrested five teens in connection with the burglary. They are Matrix Andaluz, 18, Waldo Soroa and Matrix Andaluz, both 19, and two 17-year-olds. They also have been charged with four other burglaries in the neighborhood, and investigators think they are linked to an estimate 20 break-ins, sheriff's spokeswoman Jenifer Lowe said. Among the items stolen — some pawned or sold on the street — were car parts, laptops and gaming systems, Lowe said. In one case, a married couple awoke to loud banging noises last week and came face-to-face with one of the suspects. He was peering in the windows and ran off with the other four suspects, deputies said. Investigators think others involved raced away in two cars.

One box of dog ashes remains missing, although cops believe it's at the home of the burglars' friend who thought he saw concrete mix.


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