Parents plead for return of infant's ashes

AJAX, Ontario, May 14 (UPI) -- A Toronto-area couple made an emotional appeal for the return of a stolen locket containing the ashes of their infant son.

The break-in occurred Monday in Ajax, east of Toronto, David Selby, a civilian spokesman for Durham Regional Police, told a throng of media outside the home of Dave and Lorraine Hutchison.

Among the undisclosed items taken was a soldered-shut pendant containing some cremated remains of the couple's son who died of a rare bone disease in 2002 at the age of 16 days, the Toronto Sun reported Wednesday.

"He's already been taken once by God ... he's been taken by the devil this time," the boy's father told reporters.

Selby issued the call to the thief or thieves to "get it back to us," the Toronto Star reported.

"Put it in an envelope and give it to a bus driver -- leave it at a library, anything," he said.