Only On 2: Hollywood Woman's Mother's Stolen Ashes Return In Movie-Like Ending

HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA.com)  —   The burglary was caught on tape.

The thief got away with a computer, some jewelry and some money. But he also walked away with something priceless that can't be replaced.

It's a story that is Only On 2.

Tom Wait reports a woman watched the video in horror as she saw a man walk off with her mother's ashes.

The man is shown casing the home. He vanishes and then comes back about twenty minutes later carrying a bag of stolen jewelry, a computer, money and a box containing the ashes of a woman who died three-and-a-half years ago

"The ashes belonged to Maureen Murphy's mother.

"I was just sick over it," Murphy says.

It happened Tuesday. The thief waited for Maureen to leave the house to do some errands then he broke in. A neighbor's security camera captured the images,

Seeing the thief run off with her mother's ashes broke her heart.

"I kept thinking that maybe he put them in garbage can or something. Of course, I know mom isn't in the ashes- it's just little calcium and bits of bone but it'still  a bit of her," Murphy said.

Maureen felt hopeless. She said a prayer to her mom.

"If you could arrange it so I could just get the ashes back, I'll be fine about the jewelry going. If you could arrange that miracle, I'll know you're still with me."

Somehow that prayer was answered.

A construction worker at a site on Vermont in Koreatown --  miles from the Hollywood home -- stumbled upon the box containing Maureen's mother's ashes  and called police today.

Maureen said she is grateful to detectives for staying on top of the case.

Now she is hoping someone can help find the suspect or recognizes his car - it appears to be an older model Nissan -- gray or greenish in color -- with chrome handles.