Gold Coast crime: Thieves steal ashes from grieving family

A Gold Coast woman says she has lost her father twice after thieves stole an ornament containing his ashes.

A GOLD Coast woman who lost her father suddenly to cancer three months ago is mourning him for a second time after his ashes were stolen in a daylight burglary.

Pimpama resident Amanda Russell says she hysterically searched for the small, heart-shaped pendant that contained remains of her father after she found her family home ransacked Friday.

“We came home around 3.30 in the afternoon to see the whole loungeroom tipped upside down,” Ms Russell told the Bulletin.

Gold Coast mother, Amanda Russell, has had her father's ashes, stolen during a home invasion on Friday. All she wants are his ashes returned. Picture: Jerad Williams

“I realised my dad’s ashes were in my bedroom. I raced in there and started screaming when I realised his ashes were missing.

“I was screaming ‘I want him back, I want him back’. It was just devastating.”

“It was like I lost him all over again.”

Ms Russell’s father Steven Russell died in early December, just four weeks after he was diagnosed with a stage four melanoma.

“We have been through so much as a family recently,” Ms Russell told the Bulletin.

“It just hasn’t stopped since Dad died. I was in a car crash a few weeks ago and now this. It is too much.”

The small pendant containing Amanda Russell's father's ashes. The item was stolen on Friday.

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Thieves also made off with spare car keys, a portable speaker and a PlayStation.

In fear of the thieves returning, the mother of two has been staying elsewhere while police spent the weekend combing for prints.

“The charm is the one thing that I can never replace, but these people decided they needed the last memories of my father more than I did,” Ms Russell said.

“All I want is that charm back, I don’t care about anything else.”

Neighbours say they saw a red hatchback at the property the day of the robbery.

Police say investigations are continuing.