Ashes of 69-year-old woman found in car left at Pueblo junkyard

A junkyard in Pueblo is the final resting place for cars that are broken, shattered and left in pieces.

Austin Steir, owner of Tom’s Auto Salvage has made a career out of selling what’s left of hundreds of vehicles that end up in his lot.

He says a majority of the cars are filled with trash, and sometimes valuable belongings his employees are forced to throw away.

Two weeks ago, they found something never discovered in one of their vehicles before; human remains.

Steir says, “They came and got me and said, ‘Hey we’ve got something we don’t think we should throw away.'”

That something, or rather someone, was what is left of Madonna M. Goodman, who died at the age of 69.

A box filled with ashes was sitting in the trunk of a Toyota Corolla.

“There really wasn’t much else in here, except for the ashes,” Steir says.

Now the box sits in their office because no one has come to claim her. The certificate made up by the Sangre de Cristo Crematory Association in Canon City identifies the remains inside, her birthday, age, date of death and when she was cremated.

That’s all the information Steir has. The Corolla doesn’t have an owner. He says the VIN number attached to the car isn’t registered to anyone, and no one has tried to claim it.

One person has made an inquiry into the car, but they never came to pick it up, nor did they leave a phone number.

Now Steir wants to do the right thing and find the family it belongs to.

“Being in the trunk of the car, that’s no place for a deceased person, nor is it respectful,” he says, “if this was my mother’s ashes, I would be hoping, everyone in their power would be doing what they could to get the ashes back to me.”

Until then, Ms. Goodman will sit on their filing cabinet keeping them company.

If you have any information, you can reach the business at (719) 248-2986.

KRDO Only 2019