Fancy her grandpa’s cookies?

Student bakes ashes into treat and serves it to classmates

DAVIS: A high school student mixed her cremated grandfather’s ashes into homemade sugar cookies and shared them with several classmates, police in Northern California said.

The student and a friend baked the cookies and shared them with at least nine classmates at their public charter high school near Sacramento on Oct 4, said Davis Police Lt. Paul Doroshov on Wednesday.

He said the Da Vinci Charter Academy students told some of their classmates that the cookies contained human ashes.

He said investigators interviewed nine students who ate the cookies and that there were other supporting details that made the allegations credible, though he did not elaborate.

Doroshov added that the students were unlikely to be charged with a crime, even if one can be found that would apply.

Andy Knox, who told the KCRA television station that he unknowingly took a bite of one of the sandy-textured cookies, believed they contained human ashes.

“She had mentioned her grandpa’s ashes before,” Knox said, adding that the girl, who was not identified by authorities, previously offered him some ashes if he swapped desks with another student in their class.

“I didn’t believe her until she pulled out the urn. She told me there was a special ingredient in the cookie,” he recalled.

He said he became worried after tasting the cookie, adding: “I thought that she put drugs in it or something.”

Knox said the girl laughed and said the cookie contained her grandfather’s ashes.

“And I was really, I was kind of horrified,” he said. He took only one bite.

“If you ever ate sand as a kid, you can kind of feel it crunching in between your teeth,” he said. “So, there was a tiny bit of that.”

Investigators said other students knew about the ashes before eating the cookies.

Doroshov said he and investigators were at a loss to identify a motive.

“They’re juveniles and it’s not a heinous or serious crime,” he said, adding that there was no public health risk either.

“I really don’t think it fits into any crime section,” Doroshov said.

He also said investigators had looked at an obscure law making it illegal to mishandle human remains, but “this isn’t what that law was intended to stop”.

He said police would let the school handle the matter.

Da Vinci Charter Academy teaches 580 students in grades seven to 12 and describes itself as a technology-based school. It is located in the college town of Davis, home of the University of California, Davis.

Principal Tyler Millsap said in a statement posted on Facebook and e-mailed to parents that the incident “has been particularly challenging and we have responded appropriately and in the most respectful and dignified way possible”.

He said those involved “are remorseful and this is now a personal family matter”.