Family Wants Answers After Grandmother’s Remains Still Missing 1 Year After Death In Tulsa

A South Carolina family wants answers from the United States Postal Service after the remains of their loved one have still not arrived from Tulsa. 

On March 14, 2020 Mikayla's Eckler grandmother Charlotte Dillon passed away while visiting Tulsa from South Carolina for a funeral. 

She was cremated through Cremation Society of Oklahoma, but Eckler and her family had to go back home before the remains were ready. 

"So, we ended up just taking the route of having her shipped out to us, and it ended up being a nightmare," Eckler said. 

Eckler said her grandmother's remains were supposed to arrive on April 1, 2020 but a year later they still haven't made it. She said they were given a tracking number by the U.S. Post Office, but it hasn't been updated in nearly a year. 

"The last thing we have on that tracking number is from March 30 at 6:33 p.m. our time, is that she was leaving the post office and heading toward a sorting facility in Tulsa," she said. 

Eckler said her family has been calling almost daily for updates, but still no luck.

Eckler said she was told that the post office in Tulsa had documentation they had arrived in Conway, South Carolina, but the post office in Conway was searched, and the remains still weren't found. 

She said they also had two calls of the remains being found, but it turned out to not be true. 

"They called us, said that they had found her, and then called us the next day or a couple hours later and said I'm sorry it's not her, twice. That has been very painful," Eckler said. 

Eckler said her family is reaching their breaking point and they just want answers and for their nana to be brought home.

"It's been a traumatic and disheartening experience, for everyone, my mom, my brother, my sister, my uncle, everyone in our family has just been torn by this," she said. 

Eckler said she was told today they would be doing a nationwide search for the remains. 

The U.S. Postal Service provided the following statement:

"First and foremost, the Postal Service offers our deepest condolences to the Eckler family. We have been in contact with the family and are very aware of their desire to locate the missing cremains as soon as possible. We regret that, to date, the cremains have not been located, but the search is continuing. 

Let me assure you that the Postal Service does its utmost to ensure these packages are handled properly and with respect. In the very rare instance a package of this sensitive nature is found to be missing, we do a thorough search throughout the facilities the package traveled through, and staff at every level is notified of the missing package. If the package is found and there is no identification included, the cremated remains are kept indefinitely.

The U.S. Postal Service is the only shipping company that ships cremated remains. Required labels and packaging for cremated remains increase the visibility of these important packages throughout the postal network and make them more secure for processing. 

More information about the process to package and ship cremated remains is available on our website. Funeral providers should also have protocols in place to ship cremated remains.”