Man Held in Theft of Friend’s Remains

Even in death, David Berry hasn’t found peace.

The charismatic Harley-Davidson enthusiast and electrician died Oct. 31 at age 41 after a decades-long battle with kidney disease, enduring two organ transplants and years of dialysis.

Then 12 days ago, his sister, Jill Deckard, learned her brother’s ashes had been stolen from an urn at Fairhaven Memorial Park in Santa Ana.

Police on Wednesday arrested a friend of Berry’s on suspicion of stealing the cremated remains. The suspect, David Albert Larson, 46, of Buena Park, told police he took the remains because he didn’t think Berry wanted to be at the cemetery, authorities said.

Larson faces a felony count that could bring a prison sentence if he is convicted. Police found Larson and the ashes, which had been kept in a beat-up briefcase under the seat of an old GMC pickup truck, at a home in Buena Park. The remains have since been returned to Fairhaven Memorial Park, said Santa Ana Police Sgt. Baltazar De La Riva.

“I’m just thankful the ashes are back at the cemetery,” Deckard said.

Shortly after Berry’s death, Deckard said, Larson began claiming her brother owed him money and failed to return items Larson had loaned him. Deckard said she paid Larson the money and gave him several of the things he said he owned. But he kept coming back wanting more, she said.Then on April 20, Deckard said, she received a phone call from a family friend who said Larson bragged about stealing Berry’s ashes. She spent the next week trying to track Larson down, with no luck.

“So last Saturday, I went to the cemetery,” Deckard said. “I asked a worker to check the urn, and the worker said the ashes were gone.”

Larson, who was being held in Santa Ana Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail, denied to police that he stole the ashes as revenge against Berry’s sister.