A mother in Georgia says that she sent her son’s ashes from a UPS store to a family member, but the package never arrived at its intended destination.
Tangenika Lee says she feels like she’s lost her 15-year-old son, Deontray, all over again following his death in 2020 from a fentanyl overdose.
WSB-TV reports Lee’s son’s remains went missing after she attempted to ship them to her sister to make a cremation urn.
“If you ask me, it’s just like a repeating nightmare,” Lee said. “I cremated him because I had not seen him in seven whole years. So, I cremated him so that he could be right here with me, and we could travel together and do things together – and he ain’t here.”
Lee says she shipped Deontray’s ashes and some gifts to her sister’s address in Connecticut in early January via UPS.
The package containing her son’s ashes was supposed to arrive by Jan.10. However, several weeks passed, and it was not delivered. Lee says she returned to the UPS store to find out what happened to the package.
“I went inside of the store and pulled cameras from January the 8th, and they came back out to tell me that that package actually had left their facility, and it was nothing that they could do about it,” Lee said.
According to her, UPS sent her a $135 check as compensation, but she refuses to cash it.
On the UPS website, it states that “human remains, fetal remains, human body parts, human embryos or components thereof” are items prohibited from being shipped.
In a statement to WSB-TV, UPS said in part, “With the time constraints we had to investigate, we found the content of the package was declared by the customer as ‘clothes.’ UPS does not accept shipments of human remains. We extend our deepest sympathy to the family, and our heartfelt thoughts are with them during this time. Unfortunately, the package was lost.”