For Artie Pierce a nightmare came to an end after nearly five years when a nondescript package arrived at his Langley home on Friday.

The box carried precious cargo — the ashes of his mother, Cathleen Thomas.

“I had been trying to find my mom for over four years,” Pierce said.

It’s been a bizarre sequence of events.

Within the last year he learned she had died in Alaska and a stranger had her cremated and then claimed her remains. Then the Langley family discovered that the ashes had turned up in an abandoned storage unit in Washington, but were auctioned off when the renter didn’t pay his bill.

“We have been a raw nerve,” said Jacqueline Pierce, Artie’s wife of three years.

“Now she’s finally home,” she said.

On Friday morning, Artie held the remains of his mother in his hands and it was easy to see his relief.

“We are glad she can be were she needs to be,” he said.

“The last time I saw my mom, I said: ‘Goodbye. Love you. See you in Washington,’” he said. “I didn’t know it would be this way.”

Long journey home

It all began in 1996.

A 19-year-old Pierce left Ketchikan, Alaska to get married to his first wife. He wanted his mother to join his new family in

Washington.

They agreed that she would follow as soon as she had things settled, but she never left Alaska, Pierce said.

“She did have some mental issues, but being young, and with a baby on the way, I took her at her word when she promised that she would just finish packing and follow me to Washington,” he said.

When Pierce tried to call her months later, the number had been disconnected.

When he tried to write to her, his letters were returned.

“I was trying to establish myself in Washington, and all that a new baby entails, I didn’t have the time nor resources to return to Ketchikan, find her and persuade her to come live with me,” he said. “I never stopped looking for her, though.”

He did have brief contact with her shortly after Christmas in 2001.

After losing touch again, he got word about his mother in early 2005.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t good news. She had passed away.

But nothing could prepare him for what he was about to learn next.

“When I learned that she had died, I began my search for her remains. At first, the Ketchikan mortuary was extremely hesitant to give me any information. They eventually told me that my mom had been cremated at the request of a Bryan R. Burghduff, and shipped to the Steele Chapel in Longview,” he said.

Pierce talked to the Ketchikan State Patrol, but more trouble was on the horizon.

They said that they had not found any record of Cathleen Thomas’ next of kin and that was why nobody had notified Pierce or his siblings, Pierce said.

Pierce wonders how it was

possible that police were unable to locate him.

“They could find Burghduff, but not me?” Pierce said.

“They could have done a cross-reference of their own police records, hospital records, they could have asked people where we lived in Alaska,” he said.

“I work for Island County, and own a home here. I have two vehicles registered here. It would have been really easy to connect me to my mom. Especially, by the Ketchikan police, given their resources and ability to access records,” he said.

When Pierce requested information regarding his mother’s death, the Ketchikan State Patrol was very tight-lipped.

“I just wanted to know how, when, where she died,” he said.

Pierce later discovered his mother’s death was listed as a heart attack. Cathleen Thomas was 46 with no prior history of heart disease, but she was a diabetic.

“It was more likely that she died of a diabetes-related coma or something, than a heart attack,” he said.

But questions were never raised, and Pierce learned that no autopsy was ever performed. The coroner in Anchorage never handled her remains.

“She went straight from the scene of her death to the mortuary,” he said. “It’s all so fishy.”

His odyssey to locate his mother’s remains continued.

Pierce’s wife started researching on the Internet to find out more about Burghduff, someone his mother had met in Alaska. The family requested records and found that Burghduff was in jail in Cowlitz County last month.

Trail goes south

Jacqueline Pierce did a map search and found that Steele Chapel in Longview, where the ashes had been shipped, was right down the road from the Cowlitz jail.

Pierce contacted the Longview Police Department on March 8, and reported that Burghduff may be in possession of his mother’s remains.

“I requested that they speak with him and attempt to procure my mom. Bryan Burghduff, was after all, of no relation to my mom, and had no legal right to have her cremated and shipped to him,” he said.

Pierce also had trouble getting information from Steele Chapel until he involved the Longview Police.

He eventually learned that Burghduff had signed the cremation order in January 2005, and claimed her remains as her only living relative.

Pierce asked if the chapel had required proof of relation to the deceased. A representative of the chapel told him that they did require proof.

“When I asked her how a felon could have had my mom cremated and shipped to him, she responded that he signed the cremation order as adopted brother,” Pierce said.

Meanwhile the Longview Police investigated Pierce’s report.

The Pierce family then received a phone call from police 10 days ago telling them that they had contacted Burghduff and that he had told them that the remains of Pierce’s mother were in a storage unit in Kelso.

Police discovered that Burghduff hadn’t paid the rent. The storage owner had auctioned off the contents of the unit for $30 and now nobody was sure where the ashes were.

Pierce told police that he wanted to press charges against Burghduff for theft and fraud.

“I was told that Mr. Burghduff seemed like a really nice guy and he seemed to really care about your mom. I shot back that he is not a nice guy, he is a felon that was in your custody last month on drug charges,” he said.

“I also told them that I found 31 charges on him in Ketchikan, including some felonies. Not to mention that he was deceptive in his ability to have her cremated and claimed by him,” Pierce said.

Longview police then said it was a civil and matter and that no crime had been committed.

Pierce said it was easier for Burghduff to claim his mother then it was for him to get her remains back.

Pierce and his wife continued their efforts to retrieve his mom and finally got a break when they called Steve Giebelhouse, the owner of the storage facility in Kelso.

It took Giebelhouse a week of phone calls, but he found the people who bought the contents of the storage unit at auction. They returned the ashes to the storage facility.

“Steve Giebelhouse is a hero in my book. He put my mom in the mail as soon as he received her,” Pierce said.

Even though this was the most unusual event that happened in the 10 years since Giebelhouse bought the storage facility, he said he simply did his job and was happy to help.

“I imagine when Artie talked to me, he saw some light at the end of a tunnel for the first time in a while,” he said.

“I am just glad everything worked out for the guy,” he said.

Giebelhouse said he had auctioned off the contents of the unit as he does if people fail to pay their rent. He tried to contact Burghduff repeatedly, but never received an answer.

Finally, Giebelhouse found out that Burghduff was in jail on drug-related charges. Burghduff later sent him a note from jail.

“I had a hard time lately. I hope you have not sold my stuff. My sister’s remains were in a bag and a box that was shipped to me from Alaska,” the note read.

After the buyer returned the box with the ashes, Giebelhouse put them in the mail and made sure that he insured the cargo.

Now that Pierce’s mother has arrived, the family will put her to rest. They have created a space on their property where they plan to spread Cathleen Thomas’ ashes.

It will be a special place. Jacqueline Pierce has put lots of time and efforts into the landscaping of their home and has planted Cathleen Thomas’ favorite plants, including azaleas, red roses, rhodies and daisies.

Pierce said the family plans a celebration of her life. They remember her for all the good that she did, despite the challenges she faced in life. She was married at the age of 16. She had three children.

“She gave us the best years of her life, and I will forever be grateful for who she was and is to me. A mother is a child’s life-link to this world,” he said.

Pierce said he has regrets that he wasn’t able to help her in life, but he will find some solace in being able to lay her to rest.

Pierce now feels a sense of closure, even though many memories, keepsakes, photos and family pieces have been forever lost because the police only kept Thomas’ purse and medication after her death.

“She had his baby teeth and pictures,” Jacqueline Pierce said. “It breaks my heart.”

“She had two dogs. They had Christmas stockings. Nobody knows where the dogs are,” he said.

Pierce said that he was hurt to hear that Burghduff has since blamed Pierce for not first getting his mother’s ashes, and blames the Langley man for not keeping in touch with his mother.

“I never met the guy. But he knew of me,” Pierce said, adding that Burghduff could have found him and told him about his mother’s death.

Pierce said he tried to locate his mother for years but without her Social Security number, the search always came up empty.

Pierce said that if Burghduff really cared for his mother, he would have treated her remains better.

“Why did he put her in a storage shed in a box?” Pierce asked.

The Pierce family is now considering legal action to hold Burghduff accountable for claiming the remains and lying to authorities about their relationship.

“This guy has a record and I don’t understand why he is not behind bars,” Pierce said.

“I don’t mean to sound bitter, but I fault many for this travesty. I fault myself for not being able to find her in life, and take care of her,” he said.

“It blows me away. I find it a shame that some people are just disposable, just because you are a single woman, mentally ill and don’t make a six-figure income,” he said.