A Monument family is heartbroken after their loved one’s memorial went missing

MONUMENT, Colo. (KRDO) - A Monument family is looking for answers after the memorial remembering their loved one who tragically died disappeared. The memorial was created by friends of Sydney Howells after she passed away in a motorcycle accident earlier this year. 

The accident happened at the intersection of Baptist Road and Leather Chaps Drive in Monument, the day after New Year's Day.

Sydney's mother Kriquett Howells said her daughter's friends were the ones who put up the memorial. And on Friday morning she got an unexpected call from one of her daughters, a call she wasn't expecting to get.

"She said, Mom, where [are] all of Sydney's things? and I don't understand. What are you saying? I just went by there and they were there and she said, yeah, everything is gone," said Howells. "The cross is the only thing that was left, that was hammered into the ground. But everything else has been gone."

The family decided to have Sydney cremated and spread her ashes at Garden of the Gods. The location of the memorial was the place where they felt a connection with Sydney.

"And that was her final resting place, per se," said Howells. "We really didn't have a graveyard site. Right? So this was really where people felt like they could connect with her."

Although the family is heartbroken by this, they're thankful for all of the support they're getting during this time. 

"Someone can take all of her things, and it's not going to take away all of our memories of her. We have pictures of the site and either way, I've had so many people reach out and say, it's okay, we'll just build it again," said Howells.

The family contacted El Paso County, the City of Monument, CDOT, and code enforcement. All the agencies and local governments contacted said they didn't take down the memorial.