Burglars steal wife’s ashes before they can be taken to Hawaii

It was bad enough that Frank Schieber’s home was burglarized.

Someone kicked down the front door of his house on Wood Lake Drive in Maitland last week, tossed his belongings around and stole jewelry from the master bedroom, police said.

But all that paled in comparison, in his eyes, to what else was taken July 17: the ashes of his deceased wife, Nancy Schieber.

“When I realized her bag was gone, I started yelling ‘no, no, no,’ around the house,” Schieber, 62, said. “I was, and still am, in an extremely distraught place.”

The commercial real estate appraiser was married to his wife for 33 years. Four years ago, she was diagnosed with colon cancer. Eventually, it spread into her liver. She died June 23 at 61.

Frank Schieber and his son were about to take her ashes to Hawaii on Aug. 1. The couple spent their silver anniversary in Kauai, Hawaii.

“On our 25th anniversary back in 2009, my wife says to me, ‘A card is just not going to cut it this time,’ ” Schieber said. They spent it on “The Garden Isle,” where they swam in the ocean and snorkeled with sea turtles.

Before she died, they agreed her ashes would be scattered in that same water. “It would have been a fitting end for Nancy,” Schieber said, fighting back tears.

He fears the robber has realized what was taken and thrown it away. But he hopes the person has a conscience and will return it.

“Imagine your mother died, you had her body ready for her final resting place and then it was thrown in a dumpster. How would you feel?” Schieber asked.

The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office encourages anyone with information on the case to call investigators at 407-665-6650.