Urn containing murdered infant’s ashes returned to mom

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — An urn containing the ashes of a murdered infant were found and returned to a grieving mother late Monday, though not by the thief who stole them.

Wendy Witte told the KRDO that her car was one of 10 that were burglarized in a Colorado Springs parking lot on Saturday morning. The urn containing the ashes of her murdered 2-year-old son, Robert, along with a backpack that had more precious keepsakes was all the burglar took from Witte, who is in the process of moving to Colorado Springs.

The urn was discovered in a dumpster at a nearby apartment complex late on Sunday night and returned to Witte by police. The backpack remains missing.

“I have so little, and (that backpack) means so much to me,” Witte told KRDO. “It’s my heart. I would just love to have it back. I want whatever I have with my son back.”

Witte said her son was murdered in 1997, but that she carries the urn and backpack with her at all times because it helps her feel like her son is “still with me, and I don’t want to let him go yet.”

One of the burglary suspects is described as a 5-foot-7 white man in his early 20s, with an 8-inch red and black Mohawk and tattoos covering his arms. Police said he was last seen fleeing the area in a four-door white Pontiac Grand Am.

The second suspect is described as a stocky-built, 5-foot-9 man wearing a gray hoodie. Police said he may have been driving a white Dodge Ram or Dakota truck.

Anyone with information about the thefts can call Colorado Springs police at (719) 444-7000, or Crime Stoppers at (719) 634-7867.