Wichita County sheriff: Mystery of the human ashes solved
The return of Watson's ashes on Monday concluded a mystery at the Wichita County Cemetery.
Sheriff David Duke said the ashes in a container were left at a pavilion at the cemetery in late February.
An envelope containing some money was left with the ashes.
Duke said his investigators located family members who said the urn had been lost during a move.
'They had been cleaning stuff out of a residence and thought they put them on a trailer,' Duke said.
He said it was possible the urn fell from the trailer.
Following an investigation, the Sheriff's Office determined the remains were left by a well-intentioned stranger.
'A good Samaritan found it and took it over there to the cemetery. They thought someone needed to take care of it,' Duke said Wednesday. 'They left a little bit of money. It probably wasn't enough to cover a regular funeral.'
It appears Watson died in 2021.
Duke said a county worker doing maintenance found the ashes on the table.
The Wichita County Cemetery on 30th Street is where the county buries indigents who cannot afford burial services.
More: Word of her murder surprised a woman living in Bowie
More: Woman's Forum celebrates 'A Century of Commitment to Wichita Falls'
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Wichita County Sheriff: Mystery of the human ashes solved
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
‘Stunning survival': California man missing for two days rescued alive from behind a waterfall
In what authorities are calling a 'stunning survival story,' a man who was trapped behind a roaring waterfall in the Southern Sierra for two days was rescued on Tuesday. The man, identified by the Tulare County Sheriff's Office as 46-year-old Ryan Wardwell of Long Beach, had set out on Sunday in Sequoia National Forest with plans to rappel down the Seven Teacups, a series of tumbling granite waterfalls in a tributary of the Kern River north of Kernville. During periods of lower flows, the stair-step falls are a popular objective for rappellers who descend each feature via ropes and harnesses. Partway down the fall, Wardwell got stuck in a cavern behind one of the surging falls. He 'had come off his rappel lines and got trapped behind the waterfall because of the extreme hydraulics of the river,' according to a statement from the Sheriff's Office. Tulare County authorities were alerted about Wardwell being missing on Monday. After searching the river from above with an aircraft equipped with an infrared camera, they identified his 'possible location.' But 'due to the late hours of the day and technical difficulty of the area,' officials opted to wait until first light Tuesday morning to attempt a rescue. Early Tuesday, search teams were deployed to the area and were able to fly a drone behind the waterfall where Wardwell was trapped. He was 'found alive and responsive,' according to the Sheriff's Office. Next, a California Highway Patrol helicopter flew into the river canyon and lowered a rescuer on a hoist cable down into the cavern where Wardwell was stuck. The rescuer secured the stranded man onto the hoist cable and the helicopter was able to extract him safely. He emerged with 'only minor injuries and dehydration,' according to the Sheriff's Office. In the wake of the incident, Tulare County authorities want to remind 'the public to always be aware of their environment and capabilities, especially when navigating white water rivers.'
NBC News
a day ago
- NBC News
Federal judge orders Ohio State and Strauss sex abuse victims into mediation
A federal judge has ordered Ohio State University to resolve via mediation the remaining lawsuits filed by former students who claim it failed to protect them from a sexual predator on the school payroll. U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson issued the order Monday as the university still faces five active lawsuits from 236 men alleging that Dr. Richard Strauss molested them, mostly under the guise of giving physicals. 'The Ohio State University portrays itself as a different university today than it was when Dr. Richard Strauss abused hundreds of young men — for decades — as its employee,' Watson, of the Southern District of Ohio, wrote. 'Yet it is today's Ohio State that must reckon with the consequences of that ugly past in these cases.' If the case went to trial and the accusers won, it would be a 'pyrrhic' victory, Watson wrote. 'The best way for plaintiffs to close this horrific chapter of their lives and for Ohio State to move forward as a respectable institution of higher education, is through a mutual resolution short of a trial,' the judge wrote. Watson, in his order, referred the cases to Layn Phillips, a former Oklahoma federal judge who mediated the lawsuits filed against Michigan State by some 200 women athletes who were sexually abused by sports doctor Larry Nasser. Michigan State paid Nassar sex abuse survivors $500 million, which is believed to be the largest settlement ever in a sexual misconduct case involving a university. 'He got Michigan State to pay the victims millions in settlement money. So we see this as a big win for us,' one of the OSU plaintiffs, who asked not to be identified to avoid angering Watson, told NBC News. Phillips will be working alongside fellow mediators Catherine Geyer and Michelle Yoshida, as well as law clerk Caroline Kedeshian, Watson's order states. Watson also gave both sides a deadline of Feb. 27, 2026 to provide the court with a progress report 'at which point the Court will consider whether additional mediation would be productive.' In the meantime, lawyers for OSU and the plaintiffs will be allowed to continue taking depositions from witnesses. Among those who have already been deposed are Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who was the assistant wrestling coach at the university from 1986 to 1994 before he got into politics, four plaintiffs in lawsuits against the university told NBC News last month. Jordan has repeatedly and publicly denied any knowledge that Strauss was preying on athletes. He was deposed about a month after the release of an HBO Max documentary about the Strauss scandal called ' Surviving Ohio State,' in which one of the wrestlers he once coached called him a liar. Jordan is not a defendant, but he is referred to in some of the lawsuits alleging he was aware of the abuse. Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Watson's ruling. A spokesperson for Ohio State, Benjamin Johnson, also declined to comment, saying via email, 'We don't typically comment on pending litigation." Ohio State found itself under fire in 2018 after a whistleblowing former wrestler named Mike DiSabato went public with allegations that Strauss had sexually abused him and hundreds of other athletes and that the school knew about it but did nothing to stop him. Strauss preyed on hundreds of men from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s. He died by suicide in 2005. An independent investigation sponsored by Ohio State and conducted by the Perkins Coie law firm concluded in May 2019 that Strauss sexually abused at least 177 male athletes and students and that coaches and administrators knew about it for two decades but failed to stop him. Since the release of the report, OSU has said it has paid out $60 million in settlement money and its former president has publicly apologized 'to each person who endured' abuse at the hands of Strauss. But it has balked at settling the remaining lawsuits.
Miami Herald
a day ago
- Miami Herald
Woman tries kidnapping child at fair, MD cops say. Family and bystanders step in
A child nearly kidnapped at a Maryland county fair was kept safe by his family, fairgoers and the event's employees after they 'intervened without hesitation,' a sheriff's office said. On-duty deputies at the Queen Anne's County 4-H Fair took action at about 6 p.m. on Aug. 11, when they learned of the abduction attempt, according to an Aug. 12 news release shared by the county sheriff's office. Then four people were taken into custody, including 28-year-old Alexandra Kay Dawson, who is now charged with kidnapping a child under 16, authorities said. The three others had visited the fair with Dawson and were with her 'throughout the evening,' according to the sheriff's office. But they were released after the sheriff's office said investigators confirmed they 'had no involvement in the crime.' Dawson, of Church Hill, was the only person trying to kidnap the child, according to authorities. She was also charged with disorderly conduct and second-degree assault. It is not immediately clear whether she has legal representation. At the fair, according to court documents reviewed by WBOC TV, Dawson tried to pull the boy away from his grandmother, whom he had been holding hands with while they were inside a goat barn. Then Dawson picked him up and put 'a baseball hat on his head,' the TV station reported, citing court records. As she tried to take the boy away, Dawson and his grandmother got into a struggle until a man at the fair grabbed ahold of Dawson's arm and stopped her from leaving the area, court documents say, according to WBOC TV. It was the first day of the county fair, which is held in Centreville, about a 30-mile drive east from Annapolis on Maryland's Eastern Shore. According to the sheriff's office, other bystanders also helped prevent Dawson from fleeing before authorities apprehended her at the event. In a statement, Queen Anne's County Sheriff Gary Hofmann commended everyone involved in protecting the child. 'The quick thinking and immediate actions of child's family, community members, and fair staff, combined with the pre-coordinated safeguards and emergency response protocols established by the Sheriff's Office and the (fair board), allowed our deputies to respond within moments,' Hofmann said. Now detectives are investigating additional 'reports of unwanted contact with children at the fair,' the sheriff's office said in the release. The reports have not yet been confirmed, according to authorities. Dawson is being held without bond, the sheriff's office said. After the agency posted the news of the abduction attempt to Facebook, the release garnered several reactions, including more than 1,000 comments as of the afternoon of Aug. 13. 'Someone didn't play when it came to that baby,' Facebook user Kat Steele commented. 'Takes a village.'
