Esperanza Rodriguez is heartbroken that the only remaining tangible piece of her son has been taken for her.
Her son, Geraldo Reyes, had served in the Marines since 2006. He died in January.
Tulare police are investigating the ransacking of her home but she says of all the things taken all she wants back are her son's ashes.
Rodriguez can barely hold back tears as she talks about how important her son's urn was to her. She says sometimes she would even hold it, as if to hold her son once again.
"I used to come home and when I come from work I used to come home and talk to him and I would tell him how much I loved him how much I missed him. I can't do that anymore, I just don't know where he is," Rodriguez said.
Last Wednesday, Rodriguez came home to find her house had been burglarized.
"They threw this big rock they threw it over here and there was glass over here," she told Action News.
Clothes, jewelry and important paperwork were scattered around the home or missing.
Along with the urn, the thieves took a bag that had all of the letters Reyes wrote to her while serving in Afghanistan, plus a United States Marine Corps knife.
"He never used it but he gave it to me and when he passed I had it there as a souvenir reminder just as a reminder of my son," Rodriguez said.
Right now police are working to find and return Rodriguez's belongings.
"When any crime or burglaries occur it's important for us to investigate them it's important to try and get property back to the victims it belongs to. There's a little special circumstance here in regards to the items that were taken," Sgt. Darron Altermatt of the Tulare Police Department said.
"I was so proud of my son because he says 'mom I want to do something for my country, I want to be someone special'", Rodriguez said.
Esperanza Rodriguez doesn't care about her other possessions. All she wants are her son's ashes.
"Please have compassion and bring him back to me," she said.
Esperanza Rodriguez says her son's ashes were in a plastic box that was clearly marked with her son's name and the date he died.
If you have any info on this case you're asked to call Tulare Police.
