Man sold his ex's mom's remains to pay for drugs, authorities say
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Featured Image Credit: Aiken County Sheriff's Office / Anze Furlan / Alamy Stock Photo
A 19-year-old has been accused by police of planning to buy heroin by selling part of his ex's mum's ashes.
On Tuesday, 11 October, at around 10:00pm, Jackson Rutland's ex-girlfriend went out to visit her friend.
Rutland allegedly called her at roughly 5:40am the next day to admit to having broken in to her property in the 1000 block of Augusta Road in Warrenville, Illinois.
He reportedly told her he had stolen some of her mother's ashes.
Jackson's ex-girlfriend called the authorities after she returned home from her friend's house to find the back door had been kicked in.
The arrest record states she told police the floor had some of her mother's ashes on it so she knew they had been moved.
On Thursday, 13 October, at around 11:00pm, Jackson was arrested and taken into custody at Aiken County Jail.
Jackson's arrest warrant claims the 19-year-old took the ashes in a bid to try and sell them and use the money to buy heroin.
However, it's unknown how much money he would have received for selling the ashes and whether it would have even been enough to buy the drugs.
As per the New York Post, Captain Eric Abdullah from the Aiken County Sheriff's Office resolved: "I've never heard anything like that."
While Capt Abdullah from the Aiken County Sheriff's Office may have never heard of someone trying to sell human remains for drugs, there has been another incident where human remains were on sale.
Earlier this year, Taylor’s Auction Rooms in Montrose received intense backlash for having a human skull and thigh bone on sale.
The items were listed as part of the Militaria, Domestic and Rural Bygones sale set to be sold at the Angus auction house.
However, the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland complained and asked for the bones to be removed from sale.
Similarly to police's disbelief that Rutland's ex-girlfriend's ashes could fetch much cash, the skull and thigh bone were only predicted as fetching between £20 and £40 each.
While the human skull and thigh bone were simply removed from the auction sale as the selling of bones is technically legal in Scotland, Jackson Rutland faces a very different fate if found guilty of trying to sell his ex-girlfriend's mother's ashes.
The 19-year-old has been charged with burglary as well as destruction, desecration or removal of human remains and is being remanded in custody.
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact Cruse Bereavement Care via their national helpline on 0808 808 1677
