Postal service loses cremated remains meant for Chicago area burial

Urn for cremains Photo credit Getty Images

(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Somewhere out there are the cremated remains of a member of an Arlington Heights family — lost in the U.S. mail.

The cremains of Dan McGuire were to be shipped from Los Angeles to Chicago earlier this month, but they didn’t make it.

His brother, Brian, spoke to CBS 2: “I’m angry, I’m hurt. You didn’t lose a pair of gym shoes. You lost the remains of a human being.”

Dan McGuire’s son, Colin, paid $133 to have the cremains shipped cross-country by the United States Postal Service, which boasts it is the only shipper to handle cremains.

The delivery was supposed to be made on May 12.

In time for a ceremony last week, when Dan’s mother was being buried.

“My dad missed his burial. For us to not have him and for us to not know where his remains are at, I would personally feel pretty awful if we weren’t ever able to recover him.”

The Postal Service offered the family condolences and say they are looking for the ashes.