Woman Breaks Into Home, Dumps Ex-Boyfriend's Brother's Ashes

[matcom]

<snip>

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- A New Hampshire woman is accused of breaking into her ex-boyfriend's house, trashing the place and dumping out an urn containing the ashes of the man's brother.

Jacqueline Dodge, 47, appeared in Manchester District Court Wednesday to face charges of burglary, harassment and abuse of a corpse. Police say she broke into Peter Farrell's apartment Tuesday night.

"It appears to have been domestic in nature," Sgt. Mark Fowke said. "It is an estranged relationship."

Police said that while Dodge was in the apartment, she opened a box containing an urn that held the ashes of Farrell's brother, Robert. She allegedly dumped the remains all over his bedroom.

"That's my brother, you know?" Farrell said. "Even though it's his ashes, that's my brother Bobby. And that's sad. May God help her."

Both Dodge and Farrell described their relationship as "up and down." They had been engaged for two years and lived in the same apartment complex in different units.

The night of the incident, Farrell said Dodge made harassing phone calls to him. He said that because his brother had died this summer, she knew disturbing the ashes would hurt him.

"She wouldn't come to his wake. That was when we were going up and down," Farrell said. "But she knew how I felt about him."

Dodge is due in court again next month.

http://www.wftv.com/news/3929638/detail.html

[short bus president]

1. abuse of a corpse? that's absurd

not that the whole story isn't absurd - I wouldn't expect any less from the matcom presses. But seriously - how's dumping out someone's ashes gonna be abuse of a corpse? If ashes in urns were "corpses," people couldn't keep them in their homes. Health regulations and all.

She may at worst be guilty of the other things of which she stands accused, and dirtying the carpet.