Thieves In Montreal Stole Her Car — And Her Mother's Ashes Were In The Trunk

As if losing a loved one wasn't hard enough, Carole Daoust, who was born and raised in Montreal, was ripped off of her final goodbye to her mother earlier this week when the unimaginable happened.

On the morning of October 5, Carole's vehicle was purloined from the parking lot of her hotel in Pointe-Claire. To add salt to the wound, in the trunk was the urn that contained her mother's ashes. Daoust, who now lives in Toronto, drove to Montreal with her sister to bury her parent's remains in the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery on Mount Royal.

According to the footage recorded by the hotel's security cameras, an unknown individual was seen by the car at 3:40 a.m. on Wednesday. Daoust's husband, Richard, received a notification confirming that the tracker on the vehicle had been disabled less than 20 minutes later.

Montreal police told the couple that thieves usually move the car for a few days to nearby streets to ensure there are no additional trackers, then ship it overseas.

Daoust returned to Toronto by bus and is now reaching out to several media outlets, including CBC who first reported on the story; begging for help from fellow Montreal residents.

"I am afraid we are running out of time. I ask that if you live in Pointe-Claire, Dorval, Dollard etc. please please check your side streets for our vehicle," Daoust wrote in a Facebook post on October 8.

The family received a lead as well as videos of a vehicle that resembled theirs. However, it was later moved again. The stolen vehicle is a silver 2020 Toyota Rav-4 Limited with an Ontario licence plate: CDNP041.

Though the family is not entirely concerned about the vehicle itself — all they really want is to locate the ashes of Carole's beloved mother, Winifred Aziz.

Addressing the person who stole the vehicle on social media, Daoust wrote: "I honestly believe when you took my Rav-4, you did not know that a beloved mother, grandmother and great grandmother's remains were in the trunk."

"Please look in the trunk under a red blanket, there is a burgundy-coloured felt bag containing the urn with her ashes. It has her name on it, certificates are in the bag and it is heavy. Please just place it in a public place where someone could pick it up and have it returned to us," Carole pleaded.

For any and all information regarding the incident, you can phone Daoust at 416 802 4840 or 416 931 4443. For a sighting of the car or the urn containing the ashes the Montreal Police should also be contacted promptly.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.