A woman has been reunited with the remains of her 15-year-old son thanks to a public plea for help after her car was apparently stolen on the city’s West Side earlier this week — with her son’s ashes inside.
Krystele Matthews woke up Tuesday morning to find that her 2017 Chrysler, which she’d parked outside of her grandmother’s house in Humboldt Park, was gone. Her heart sank. Her son’s ashes were in the trunk.
Matthews reported her car stolen and began reaching out to neighbors for any information or security footage they might have had on hand. But on the advice of family, she didn’t leave it there. Matthews took to social media to ask for help.
“I need my baby back,” the 42-year-old said in a TikTok video posted Tuesday. “I want my baby back. I want my baby back right now.”
Within hours, the post circulated widely. As of Tuesday night, more than 111,000 people had viewed the video, with nearly 1,500 comments from people offering condolences, support and help. Across Chicago, and even across state lines, people reached out saying they would keep an eye out for her car, Matthews said.
Wednesday morning, her pleas were heard. Matthews’ family found that her son’s ashes had been dropped off on their front porch. It was just a bag carrying the sealed ashes and a few other small keepsakes — her car and everything else that had been inside remained missing, Matthews said. But, speaking with the Tribune Wednesday afternoon, Matthews said she was just thankful to have him back.
“I’m glad … there really is some morality left in this world,” she said.
Matthews had parked her car outside of her grandmother’s house Monday around 9 p.m. Inside the car, Matthews had her son Zahir Eitan Jones’ ashes, alongside the certificate of his cremation and a box of remembrances from his services: obituaries, books that people signed at the funeral home, a notebook where she’d been writing down all his arrangements. She also had a special keepsake: a 2-foot-tall pillow that her son’s friends had customized with a picture of Jones and given to her. Jones is waving in the picture. Smiling, too.
As she headed inside, Matthews decided to leave everything in the car just for the night, as her grandmother wasn’t comfortable with her keeping her son’s remains in the house and she’d planned on soon taking his ashes to other family in the city, she explained.
She never anticipated that within hours her car would disappear, Matthews said.
Police, in response to questions on the reported theft, said a 42-year-old woman related to authorities that an unknown offender took her vehicle in the 700 block of North Ridgeway Avenue between approximately 7 p.m. Monday and 7 a.m. Tuesday. As of Wednesday afternoon, police said there were no updates in the case and the investigation was ongoing.
Matthews has spent the past few years living in Texas. She left Chicago to keep her family safe from street violence, she said.More Top Picks Best Popcorn Makers
When Jones was 7 years old, Matthews recalled them getting caught in a shootout not far from her grandmother’s house. She knew then, before Jones had gotten too big, that she wanted to leave the city. So by the time he was 10, they moved south.
Her son was strong-minded, a stickler for the facts and quick-witted, Matthews remembered. He possessed the kind of intellect, she continued, that had him studying to earn his associate’s degree while still in high school. He wanted to be an astrophysicist. But he also had a love — and a talent — for basketball. He made his varsity team as a freshman.
Jones died Aug. 9 in a “tragic accident,” Matthews said. On paper, his death was ruled a suicide, but Matthews doesn’t think that conveys a holistic understanding of what happened. She maintains his death wasn’t intentional, that he was too young to fully comprehend what he was doing.
“My son made a knee-jerk decision, and it (had) permanent consequences,” she said. “He (was) a child. … I just don’t think people of a certain age can make that conscious decision, no matter what’s going on.”
Jones’ services were held Aug. 22 in Dallas, Texas. His repast took place at his high school. On one side of the gathering, attendees shared dinner. On the other side, they played basketball.
When her son died, the first place Matthews thought to go was her grandmother’s. For decades, it’s been a landing place for her family. It’s where Matthews gave birth to her youngest, where she went after she had surgery a few years back and needed help getting back on her feet.
She’d planned on giving herself three months with her grandmother, time for her to just rest. She got into town last Sunday.
The night before her son’s ashes were returned, Matthews told the Tribune that Wednesday marked her grandmother’s 89th birthday. She envisioned waking up to her son’s ashes. Her grandmother, too, had a dream that they’d been returned, Matthews said. Turns out, their intuition was right.
Matthews’ cousin, who lives upstairs, left the house at around 8 a.m. to take her daughter to school. There the ashes were, sitting on the porch. She dashed inside screaming that they were back.
Matthews hugged the ashes and started crying. Her grandma said it was the greatest birthday gift she could get.
Matthews believes her social media posts played a role in bringing her son home.
“I knew he was going to come back,” she said. “I’m just glad he did.”
More Top Picks Best Drones For Kids