Police at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Alaska are trying to find a traveler who left behind cremated remains at a TSA checkpoint over six months ago.
On April 9, the airport’s Fire and Police Department asked for the public’s help in locating the passenger who left behind “human ashes” at a TSA screening checkpoint back in August 2018.
“There is no name or identifying marks on the ashes,” the department wrote on Facebook. “We believe the traveler left the TSA Screening Checkpoint with a urn, box, or bag, without realizing the ashes were still at the Screening Point.”
The ashes were reportedly left in a Ziplock bag and have been sitting in the airport’s lost and found area since last August.
Unclaimed human ashes left at Screening:In August 2018, a citizen traveling through Ted Stevens Anchorage…
Posted by Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport Police and Fire on Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Airport Police and Fire Sergeant Dan Juarez said the remains were checked into the lost and found with the expectation that the owner would come looking for them immediately, according to KTUU.
“We believe the traveler left the TSA Screening Checkpoint with a urn, box, or bag, without realizing the ashes were still at the Screening Point,” the Facebook post read.
Juarez said after no one came forward to claim the ashes, police backtracked and went through old video footage, according to KTUU. While the police have some leads, they have not been able to find the person who left the ashes behind, reported KTUU.
Airport police also reached out to local crematoriums and funeral homes for possible leads, according to the Facebook post.
“The is the first time we’ve had to deal with this,” Juarez said, according to Anchorage Daily News. “It is unusual.”
Human ashes left behind at TSA checkpoint in Anchorage and police need your help finding their home: https://t.co/90ANHGFXqY
— KTUU.com (@Ch2KTUU) April 11, 2019
Juarez said the Fire and Police Department posted the story on Facebook hoping that someone would come forward, reported Anchorage Daily News.
“I want people to share it as much as possible and hopefully it will jog some family member out there to check the urn,” Juarez said.
Out of respect for the deceased, TSA officers aren’t allowed to open crematory containers or remove the contents during a security screening, according to the agency’s official website.
Anchorage airport seeks traveler who left human ashes at security checkpointhttps://t.co/FNGkK9od6J pic.twitter.com/xpnpVeUmv1
— Anchorage Daily News (@adndotcom) April 10, 2019
Passengers traveling with cremated remains are instructed to place the ashes in a temporary wooden or plastic container that can be X-rayed at a security screening checkpoint, according to the website.
Containers that “generate an opaque image” during screening, or ones that cannot be screened, are not permitted in the secured areas.
Cremated remains may be transported in both checked and carry-on bags, though the TSA website cautioned that some airlines limit travelers to only bring them in their carry-on bags.
Airport police are looking for the owner of human ashes that were left behind at the TSA checkpoint last August. https://t.co/hXOlaMnPNQ pic.twitter.com/K7aBsSGjNV
— KTVA 11 News (@ktva) April 11, 2019
Juarez told Anchorage Daily News that, assuming the ashes were carried in another container aside from the Ziplock bag, the passenger would have been the one to remove them during the security screening.
He added that while security cameras at the checkpoints might have been able to identify the traveler, by the time police were notified about the ashes, the footage was long gone, having been overwritten, Juarez said.
Juarez added that during this process, he learned that many crematoriums include a metal identification tag with the ashes for unusual circumstances such as this one.
“They recommend do not remove that from the ashes,” Juarez said, according to KTUU.
Juarez said he understands how hectic traveling can be, and that the traveler may have forgotten the ashes and where they went missing.
“The main objective is to get those remains back to the loved one,” he said.