Ashes of aunt stolen from family auto on road trip to spread them

From the sad but typical files, a family from Virginia learned an unfortunate lesson about leaving valuables in automobiles parked in Los Angeles County.

ABC7:

A Virginia family brought the remains of their beloved sister and aunt, Anne Laine, to California with the hopes of spreading her ashes up the coast.

But while the family was on the beach in Santa Monica, someone broke into their car and stole the ashes.

"I need to try to do everything I need to do to get her back," said

They likely should have taken their aunt to the beach.