Albuquerque mother pleads for return of son’s ashes

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An item stolen was stolen Wednesday night that meant a lot to one local mom – something that no one can replace.

Around 7:20 p.m. Wednesday, a woman and her coworker say they were robbed at gunpoint at the Metro by T-mobile store on the corner of Wyoming and Menaul in northeast Albuquerque.

“We were ready to close and we saw two people coming in and if you work for retail, you kind of already know what’s going to happen especially you just get this vibes from certain people,” Niza Soto, an employee at Metro by T-Mobile said. “Unfortunately and they came up first to the very middle of the location and that’s when they pulled out their guns and they told us like, nobody’s gonna get hurt if you do what you’re supposed to.”

Soto and her coworker said they complied, and the criminals robbed the store’s register – stealing the little money that was in there.

But he also took off with Soto’s purse, containing something very meaningful to her.

“The most important thing in there was my son’s ashes,” Soto said. “My son passed away when he was a month old so I didn’t have a lot of time with him.”

Soto’s son’s ashes were taken during the robbery. They were in the purse that the thieves snatched during their robbery.

After getting the word out and posting on social media, she’s hoping for any bit of hope that those ashes get returned to her safely.

“I hoped that they will see it and that I was able to get my son’s ashes back. I don’t care about the bag. I just care about my son’s ashes and I just really hope even if they leave it,” Soto said. “I mean they took my ID, they know where I live, just leave it in the mailbox or just leave it outside the store. I would just like to get my ashes back because that’s something money can’t buy.”

Soto said that they did contact APD and that it took 30 minutes for them to show up after she called.

Soto also questioned how she’s supposed to truly feel safe after she calls for help and no one gets there on time — especially when guns are involved.

KOB 4 reached out to APD for more information about this and will update this story as we learn more.