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Laura Putnam's wooden urn was discovered wrapped in a plastic bag not far from the family's home.

Stolen Urn Returned

Craig Civale reports

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PARKER COUNTY — A stolen urn containing the remains of a young woman killed in a boating accident nearly six years ago was found by Parker County Sheriff's Department deputies Friday evening.

The simple wooden box was tied up in a plastic bag and left by the side of the road. There was no mistaking its contents.

"I opened it up and — sure enough — it was the urn," said Judd Putnam, Laura's father.

Betty Putnam, Laura's mother, was overjoyed. "I think I just kept yelling, 'It's her! It's her! It's her!"

The discovery ended 24 hours of anguish for the Putnams, who were facing the second theft of the urn containing Laura's ashes that had been reverently placed on a bedroom table near ceramic angels in the family's home near Aledo.

The pain and emptiness came back all over again Thursday afternoon for Betty and Judd Putnam. "It was one of those 'Oh my God, bring you to your knees' moments," Betty Putnam said. "Anything but that."

It was almost six years to the day that 23-year-old Laura Leigh Putnam was hit by a mysterious boater on Lake LBJ near Austin. Judd and Betty waited two weeks to find their daughter's body, and months after that for an arrest in the case.

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Betty and Judd Putnam spent 24 hours waiting for word on their daughter's urn.

On Friday, they waited again for the return of Laura's ashes. Betty Putnam took her husband's hand at the kitchen table and shook her head. "They could take everything we own if we could just get her ashes back," she said before the urn was uncovered at a well site about 400 yards from their rural home.

The thief apparently came through an unlocked door while Judd and Betty were away from the house doing volunteer work for a church and community center.

Mr. Putnam said the couple planned to be buried with their daughter's ashes. The thief might have mistaken the wooden urn for a jewelry case; two wooden jewelry cases were the only other items taken in the burglary.

The top of the urn with Laura Putnam's ashes is etched glass with hands clasped in prayer. On the bottom, a pull-out with Laura Putnam's name and this poem inscribed:

"They had to have had a modicum of conscience in there to return it to us," Betty Putnam said as she and Judd held hands. "I feel like I've won the lottery... everything! We've got our little girl back."

Sheriff's department investigators said they planned to continue their efforts to find the person who was responsible for the theft.

E-mail jdouglas@wfaa.com and ccivale@wfaa.com