Ashes of dead woman found in a vacant field. How they got there is still a mystery

The ashes of a dead woman from New York are headed back to the keeping of a family friend after they mysteriously appeared in a field in Bradenton.

According to a Dec. 6 incident report, deputies responded to the 1000 block of 50th Avenue Drive West after a property maintenance person found the ashes, still boxed and with death certificate intact, in a field he was mowing.

Manatee County Sheriff’s Office began looking for a family member of the deceased that day, according to Sheriff’s office spokesman Randy Warren.

However, the box and its contents did not offer many helpful clues.

It contained the ashes of Anna Bahr, who according to public records, died in 2008 in New York at age 91.

Bahr’s records indicated she never lived in Florida.

An obituary listed on Olthof Funeral Home’s website in Elmira, N.Y., said she died Oct. 8, 2008. She was born in Brooklyn and had few, if any surviving relatives even back then.

She had no listed occupation, but she attended culinary school in Buffalo, but mostly just enjoyed cooking for friends and family.

The obituary notes, “Interment will take place at a later time,” indicating that the service never took place.

A phone number was listed on the death certificate, but the number is disconnected.

The ashes were stored in the sheriff’s department property and evidence room for safe-keeping.

Now they are headed back to where they belong.

The sheriff’s office was able to find the ashes’ rightful keeper shortly after asking the public for help in cracking the case on Wednesday.

As it turns out, the ashes came from an adjacent property. They were being stored in a shed and in the care of a family friend of Bahr’s, according to the sheriff’s office.

Just how the remains got in the field remains a mystery, but they will now be reunited with the family friend.

This story was originally published December 11, 2019 at 1:08 PM.