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Cremated remains found under table at Virginia restaurant

Posted at 1:25 PM, Aug 14, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-14 15:05:01-04

MINERAL, Va. — Servers are used to finding items left behind at restaurants. A cell phone, a credit card, or maybe a pair of glasses.

But waitress Mandy Davis was not prepared for what was discovered under one of her tables at Mineral Restaurant on Saturday — cremated human remains.

“We find weird things all the time, but nothing ever like that,” she said. “I wasn’t really sure what to do with it.”

Davis said a large party was seated at the table and found an aspirin-sized bottle that contained the remains.

Restaurant workers decided to hold onto the bottle over the weekend, in case the owner returned.

No one did, so restaurant workers contacted their local newspaper, The Central Virginian, in an effort to find the owners.

“We want to make sure it goes to the rightful owner,” restaurant owner Vito Anile told the newspaper.

The bottle was then turned over to the Louisa Sheriff’s Office who planned to hold it in evidence until the owner came forward.

But using the name written on the bottle — Roberta Migetz — Louisa Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Chris George did some online detective work and made some phone calls to track down the rightful owner.

It turns out a relative of the 78-year-old woman drove to Louisa over the weekend to see another relative and give that person some of Roberta’s ashes. The ashes were put in a bottle with Roberta’s name, date of birth, date of death, and a picture of a heart.

The family thinks the bottle fell out of the man’s pocket as he got up to leave the restaurant.

“I know it was probably something he wanted,” Sgt. George said.

He planned to deliver the remains to the man on Monday.

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