All she wants is her husband’s ashes back.
Burglars cleaned out Valerie Rogers’ jewelry drawer in a “smash and grab” at her home in the Clarkwood subdivision of Vancouver’s North Image neighborhood on July 17.
Rogers, 52, went out to dinner in Portland with her 15-year-old son around 4:30 p.m. and returned two hours later to find somebody had busted through the back glass door. They bypassed her home office, leaving expensive electronics untouched, and went straight for her bedroom, the first room off the second-floor landing.
Every single piece of jewelry she owned was taken — except for the bracelet and earrings she wore to dinner. Many were sentimental pieces given by her son that had no financial value — Dollar Store jewelry he bought during elementary school, a heart-shaped napkin he made at Olive Garden that says “Happy 50th Birthday.”
But among the most precious items stolen was a small two-toned wooden box containing her former husband’s ashes, an engraved silver heart-shaped necklace containing a small amount of the ashes, and their wedding rings.
David R. Ashe died at age 41 on Jan. 9, 2000, from sudden heart failure. His ashes were placed into a box, which has a sticker on the bottom saying it’s from Evergreen Memorial Gardens Cemetery and Funeral Chapel. The couple grew up together outside of Chehalis and had known each other since Rogers was 11 years old.
She speculates the thieves discovered there was nothing special about the box and tossed it out.
“I can’t even begin to tell you the hurt and the pain and the loss,” she said.
When she returned to work, she couldn’t talk to her employees about what she experienced without breaking into tears.
The burglary comes at a particularly bad time for Rogers, who was diagnosed with a colon disease a few years ago and has no health insurance. The thieves took her blood pressure medicine and antibiotics.
They also swiped her garage door opener and the spare key fob to her Toyota Prius.
Responding Vancouver Police Sgt. Dave Henderson was helpful in telling her how to secure her home and disengaged her garage door opener. He also took an inventory of her items, though Rogers can’t find any pictures of the things that were stolen.
She says the robbery has been a huge expense. She’s since installed cameras and a home security system, as well as reprogrammed the garage door and car security systems.
Despite the added assurance, she’s still fears the robbers will return for other valuables they didn’t get the first time. She looks around the house before she leaves and questions any noises, such as the dog barking.
“It’s just a different, uneasy way of living,” said Rogers, who has lived in Vancouver more than 30 years.
The Vancouver Police Departments asks that anyone who finds Rogers’ belongings or who has information that would lead to their recovery, call 911.
A similar burglary occurred the day before, July 16, at another home in Vancouver. The homeowner, a woman in her 50s who was not available for an interview, had nothing of any real value, but it was the second time in six months that her home was hit.
Sentimental items were taken in the burglary, including cuff links that belonged to her grandfather, a jewelry box from her grandmother that played “Edelweiss,” and a necklace given to her by her mother at age five. But most importantly, they took a favorite hat belonging to the 17-year-old son’s best friend who died about a month ago.
