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Thief Robs New Hampshire Woman Of Her Mother's Ashes

ROCHESTER, N.H. (CBS) - Having your car broken into is certainly inconvenient.

But for a Rochester, New Hampshire woman, it's heartbreaking.

One of the things taken from Diane Bozzi's car was an urn containing some of the ashes of her late mother. Bozzi carried the ashes with her to keep a promise to her late mother.

WBZ-TV's Lauren Leamanczyk reports

It was a promise she made on her mother's last Christmas alive.

Bozzi said, "I told her she wanted to be cremated, I said OK mom, I'm going to take some of your ashes and you're going with me to bingo. She said, OK I'll be there."

Bingo was their weekly outing. That continued even after her mother passed away in 2002.

Diane would bring her mother's ashes in this urn. But the tradition ended this week when a person broke into Diane's van and took her bingo bag -- and her mother's remains.

"It's like her dying all over again," says Bozzi.

Diane's car was one of three in this community that were broken into Monday night. Even more were broken into last Wednesday night. Diane says these thieves should stop picking on elderly residents.

The break-in left Diane's car door -- and her heart -- broken.

"We were just so close. I miss her terribly and I wish I had her ashes back."

Diane lives in a modest mobile home in a quiet community. The neighbors want car crooks to stay away. But Diane is begging him or her to come back just one more time.

"If they have a heart they can at least come by and I won't even do anything against them," says Bozzi. "I just want mom back. That's all I want. And I hope it's before Christmas."

She wants to fulfill the promise she made all those Christmases ago.

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