Some of Stolen Man's Ashes Found in Oakland

Now he can truly rest in peace

​It's hard to find that silver lining when it comes to the death of a loved one. But one Alameda widow couldn't be happier about holding her deceased husband's ashes.

The family of  74-year-old Marvin Kent Hockabout got his ashes back Tuesday after they were stolen over the weekend from inside an Alameda church while they were planning his funeral.

Police say that some, not all, of Hockabout's ashes were located in Oakland. According to media reports, a 35-year-old Oakland man called Christ Episcopal Church, claiming he had found the wooden urn containing his ashes.

The box was found on the 400 block of 29th Avenue in Oakland, just across the Park Street Bridge to Alameda.

Alameda detectives verified the remains and have since notified the family, which will soon be getting Hockabout's remains.


On Saturday, his family had brought his ashes in a wooden urn, tucked away in a green backpack, to the Christ Episcopal Church in Alameda where his funeral service was to be held. As they planned the memorial, the family left the backpack at the altar for no more than 10 minutes while they visited in the church's parish.

When they came back, they were distraught to find the backpack -- and the ashes -- gone.

"I hope they can find more," Hockabout's son, M. Sean Hockabout, told the Chronicle today. "I was hoping it would happen at some point," he said of the discovery. "I can't imagine someone keeping ashes."