Family grieves daughter’s loss for the second time

A southern Colorado family is grieving the loss of their daughter all over again after her ashes were lost in the mail.

Tina and John Attebery were expecting twins last year, but 18 weeks into the pregnancy, they found out they’d lost one of the babies. Her remains were cremated. Some of the ashes were put in necklaces and mailed to close relatives. One necklace was sent along with a letter to Attebery’s sister in Arizona. But they say it didn’t make it.

“She said that the letter was there, but not the necklace. And the letter was taped back shut with the ashes of my daughter missing,” Tina Attebery said. “It was hard enough losing my daughter the first time. Now I feel like somebody has kidnapped her on top of it.”

The Atteberys said they’ve been getting the runaround from the post office.

“We would like for them at least to try to figure out what happened,” John Attebery said.

“We recognize the personal nature of this piece of mail and apologize that the contents were separated from the envelope during processing,” a U.S. Postal Service spokesperson wrote in an email. “The Postal Service handles more than 500 million pieces of mail every day and we use a variety of high-speed equipment. Regular envelopes with irregular enclosures, unfortunately, can be damaged in handling. We are continuing to search for the missing locket.”

The Atteberys said they wish the post office had been more helpful and that they would’ve done things differently.

“I would’ve done everything differently,” Tina Attebery said. If I would’ve thought about it, I would’ve put it in a box, I would’ve sent it UPS, I would’ve insured it. I would’ve put tracking on it. There’s a million things. I’ve been going back every day.”

USPS regulations require remains to be declared and mailed only through priority mail service.