NILES, Mich. – A mother from Niles is desperately hoping a lost locket will be returned to her. That’s because it contains the ashes of her son, who died at just 11 months old.
Amanda Shears has been searching for the missing cremation necklace since June 2 after losing it after having surgery done at a hospital in Kalamazoo. Now nearly 3 weeks later, she has no idea where her son’s remains are.
Her son was Zealen Shears, and he was born with heart complications. The 11-month-old passed away in 2012, and ever since then his mother has been wearing a necklace containing his ashes.
“It was on a white gold chain," says Shears. “The pendant itself is silver and it’s a heart with wings on it. Somebody might not recognize it as something that holds cremations. But it does have a screw. If you turn it you can tell there is something in it.”
Shears shared her lost necklace onto Facebook, where it has gotten shared more than 25,000 times.
Her best guess is that one of two things happened to it: either it got lost somewhere in Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo, or worse, someone took it when she parked her car in front of their home in Niles.
“Really, we just want it back. If somebody took it I’m not looking to get somebody in trouble. It’s just something that is very, very precious to us,” says Shears.
