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California woman cremated in Arizona, remains found in Minnesota storage unit

Posted at 8:36 PM, Aug 07, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-07 23:36:32-04

A woman died in California, her body was cremated in Arizona, and her remains were found in a storage unit in Minnesota.

The woman who found her remains is looking to return them to her family.

"It's been, you know, kind of a strange story and kind of interesting," Amanda Fitzsimmons, who found the cremated remains, said. 

In 2011, the woman's husband came across a box at a storage unit auction in Minnesota; the box was addressed to a woman in California.

Inside the box, they found the cremated remains of a woman named Vonda Jean Range; the certificate of cremation was certified by a mortuary in Phoenix.

Six years after finding the remains, questions are everywhere. Who was this woman, and how did her remains go through three states? 

ABC15 learned the woman was 74-years-old when she died in Inglewood, CA in 2004. She donated her body to Science Care and was cremated at Serenity Mortuary Services in Phoenix. 

Here's where it gets tricky...

The woman's remains were supposed to go back to Inglewood to a woman named Carrie Miller but somehow ended up in a storage unit in Minnesota.

ABC15 also learned both Miller and the person who owned that storage unit are now both dead. 

Science Care couldn't give provide ABC15 with any information, but they did return Fitzsimmons' calls; they told her they would look for her next of kin, but there's another problem.

"The people that they do have on the list they have different numbers, different addresses, so we're kinda again at a dead end," Fitzsimmons said. 

Fitzsimmons has turned to the power of Facebook to see if anyone can help; she's had quite the turnout of help and interest. From phone numbers to addresses Fitzsimmons has followed up on it all, but says nothing has checked out yet.

"It just keeps coming to a dead end."