West Island woman heartbroken over theft of her father’s ashes

DOLLARD-DES-ORMEAUX – Leane Stewart-Conti lives in a quiet West Island neighbourhood.

She and her family insist they’ve always felt safe in the area, but on Friday that changed.

“Friday morning I woke up and I heard – which was odd – I heard the birds chirping in my house and I thought ‘that’s funny why would I hear them so clearly?'” Stewart-Conti told Global News.

“I had went in the garage and I had left the door open, walked by my car and noticed that my purse was taken off the passenger seat.”

She quickly realized she may not have closed her garage door the night before and left her car doors unlocked and her purse sitting inside.

Her father, Sterling Stewart, was diagnosed with terminal bladder cancer last April.

He passed away at the end of February.

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“I actually brought most of his ashes in April to Florida, cause he wanted to be in the ocean and I brought them there,” Stewart-Conti said.

“I kept some and I kept them in my purse. It was tangible, it was something that I could still touch of my father.”

She said the theft of her father’s ashes has left her grieving all over again.

“It just feels like he’s gone again,” Stewart-Conti said. “I’ve lost him again.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It just feels like he's gone again," Stewart-Conti said. "I've lost him again."

She filed a report with Montreal police, but said she was told they have little hope for finding the lost purse.

As a result, she is appealing to the thief to return her bag.

“I don’t wanna know why you took it, I don’t wanna know who took it, just bring it back to me and that’s it,” Stewart-Conti said.

“No questions asked and no hard feelings.”

Anyone with information is asked contact the Montreal Police Dollard-des-Ormeaux station at (514) 280-0104.