Stolen Vehicle Recovered With Cremated Man’s Ashes Inside

Police have recovered a stolen moving van containing the ashes of a man cremated after dying of AIDS, but they discovered that virtually everything else that had been jammed inside the vehicle was gone.

The 20-foot Ryder rental van, stolen after being parked Thursday night on a North Hollywood street corner, was found over the weekend in the Crenshaw district, said Ron Towell, 29, who had rented it in Denver.

The van had been packed with furniture, clothes and personal items that included a black box containing the ashes of Armando Aguirre, Towell’s best friend, who died last year of acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Towell had promised to spread Aguirre’s ashes in the Pacific Ocean. When the van and the ashes disappeared, Towell feared he would be unable to fulfill his friend’s final wish.

The theft left Towell in a melancholy mood Monday, with only the clothes on his back--and dim prospects that insurance will cover his losses. But he said he was grateful to have the ashes back.

“That’s the most important thing,” Towell said. “But nothing like starting all over--literally.”

Aguirre died Feb. 25, 1992, at age 25. He and Towell had met in Los Angeles and been friends for six years, frequently spending weekends at a beach south of Oxnard that Aguirre loved.

Aguirre moved home to Denver in September, 1991, after being told he had AIDS. Towell followed. As he was dying, Aguirre asked Towell to spread his ashes in the ocean, at their beach. Towell promised he would.

Towell drove back to Los Angeles last week, parking the van Thursday night at Bakman Avenue and Huston Street in North Hollywood, down the block from a friend’s apartment. The next morning, Towell woke up, looked out the window and saw that the van was missing along with his own red pickup truck, which had been in an attached trailer.

Towell said he was notified Saturday that police had found the moving van on Crenshaw Avenue near Vernon Avenue in Los Angeles. The red pickup also turned up, in Hollywood, he said.

It cost $314.36 to liberate the Ryder van from a towing company’s impound lot and $98 for the pickup at another lot--a frustratingly large total considering he had done nothing wrong, Towell said Monday.

It’s also dismaying, he said, to think about all the stolen furniture--tables, chairs, sofas, televisions, a bed and matching dresser, even a refrigerator painted black and white to look like a cow.

The only items found in the van were a basketball, a few Christmas ornaments and the ashes. But at least, Towell said, the ashes are safe and sound.

“I knew it would be a miracle to get just one thing back,” he said. “And I’ll be making a trip to Oxnard real soon.”