Ashes End Up In Wrong Place

The ashes of a complete stranger who died in 1983 are in a package in Mike O’Leary’s garage in Fruitland, Idaho.

O’Leary recently received notice at his cabin in Riggins, Idaho, that he had a package from California being delivered by United Parcel Service. He called and had it sent to his home in Fruitland.

Inside the box were a pair of old boxing shoes and two heavily taped packages. When he opened one of them he found a death certificate and what looked like “either crushed oyster shell or a body.”

It was the ashes of a man O’Leary didn’t know, someone who apparently had been a boxer. Enclosed were instructions for the ashes to be scattered in the Pacific Ocean.

O’Leary left the other package sealed, assuming it contains more ashes. “Looks like it’s been taped up for years,” he said.

It turns out there is another Michael O’Leary living in the Riggins area to whom the ashes apparently were to be sent.

“I’m Michael F. O’Leary; he’s Michael D.,” O’Leary said.

The ashes apparently were sent by a sister-in-law of Michael D. O’Leary’s in California. Michael F. O’Leary found someone who knows the other O’Leary, and he hopes the matter will be straightened out soon.

“It hasn’t bothered me, their being here,” he said. “I’d just like for them to get home.”