Modesto murder victim’s ashes stolen in burglary

Whoever broke into Diane Tellez’s home Tuesday night did more than take household goods. The thief also stole an urn containing the ashes of her daughter, a victim in a triple homicide three years ago.

“I just hope to God that they didn’t throw them away,” Tellez said. “I feel like I’ve just been violated again.”

The burglary was reported about 1 a.m. Wednesday at the home on Olympia Street, a few blocks west of Crows Landing Road in south Modesto. Multiple items were stolen from the home, including the urn with the ashes, according to Stanislaus County sheriff’s Sgt. Jon McQueary.

Tellez’s daughter, 19-year-old Alyxandria Tellez, was killed March 3, 2012, along with two other people in a home on McClure Road, across from Creekside Golf Course in Modesto. She was staying with her boyfriend at the home when the three victims were shot in their sleep.

Authorities have said the slayings were connected to the torture of a 19-year-old woman about a month earlier. That woman later was the only survivor in the attack at the McClure Road home. Several people have been charged in the killings; the case is still pending.

Diane Tellez said her daughter’s body was cremated and her ashes were placed in a wooden box at the crematorium. She wrapped the box in green gift wrap paper and placed her daughter’s photo on the box. When she returned from work Wednesday morning and found her home ransacked, the urn was gone. Not even the photo was left behind.

She thinks maybe the burglar or burglars thought the urn was a wrapped gift, but it was a heavy box and had her daughter’s name on it. “How could they not know that it had my daughter’s ashes?” she asked, crying.

She lives in a home that’s behind another home. She said the front home has been vacant for a while, and its electricity had been shut off. That might have attracted vagrants or homeless people, she said.

The night before the burglary, sheriff’s officials received a report of suspicious people inside the vacant home. Deputies responded and found indications that someone had been staying there. But neighbors who reported the suspicious activity didn’t have any other information about the incident.

Tellez said whoever broke into her home got in by breaking a backyard fence and the door knob to her front door. She later found a pillow taken from her home in the back alley. She says household appliances, including a deep fryer and blender, were stolen, along with collectible coins, clothes, shoes and bedding.

“I don’t care about what they do with all the other things they took,” Tellez said. “I just want my daughter back. There must be some way they can get the ashes back to me.”

She suggested the ashes could be dropped off in front of the homes, no questions asked.

Sheriff’s officials ask anyone with information about the burglary to call Crime Stoppers at (209) 521-4636. Tipsters can email through the Crime Stoppers website, www.stancrimetips.org,or text tips to CRIMES (274637) by typing “Tip704” plus a message. Callers to Crime Stoppers can remain anonymous and are eligible for a cash reward.

This story was originally published May 6, 2015 at 2:35 PM with the headline "Modesto murder victim’s ashes stolen in burglary."