Photo: Danielle Belin
Ahmad Ervin, 42, discovered something deeply unsettling while cleaning out his truck after it had been stolen—an urn inscribed with the name Marcel Akarhi Alexander, a child who lived for just over a month. The urn, found under a pile of clothes, has since prompted Ervin and his family to launch a heartfelt mission to reunite it with the child’s parents.
The ordeal began on Wednesday, Sept. 25, when Ervin, who owns a moving company in Las Vegas, woke up to find his truck missing from outside his home. He quickly filed a police report, but Ervin took matters into his own hands and began searching for the vehicle himself. With help from tips given by people who were homeless, Ervin managed to track down his truck on the morning of Sunday, Sept. 29.
Upon recovering the vehicle, Ervin found it filled with various items, many of which appeared to be stolen, including wallets and purses. After the police took these items as evidence, Ervin was left to clean out the truck himself. He began sifting through the remaining belongings when he made a heartbreaking discovery. “When I picked up a [pile] of clothes, I felt something heavy,” Ervin tells PEOPLE. “I take a look at it and realized it’s an urn.”
The small urn bore a name—Marcel Akarhi Alexander—along with the child’s dates of birth and death: January 7, 2020, and February 20, 2020. The urn was intricately decorated with a sculpture of a baby wrapped in angel wings, sleeping peacefully. Overcome with emotion, Ervin knew he could not simply discard it. Instead, he set out on a mission to locate the family to whom the urn belonged.
Ervin’s girlfriend, upon hearing of the discovery, called her sister, Danielle Belin, 50, to help. Belin, who has experienced the loss of her own children, felt an immediate connection to the situation. “It just tore me apart,” she said. “It’s like having your child kidnapped, pretty much. It was our job to find out whose child it is to return to his parents.” According to Headtopics.
In an effort to track down the family, Belin contacted a local funeral home after searching the name on the urn, but this lead has yet to provide answers. Undeterred, she has taken to social media to raise awareness about their quest, and the response has been “overwhelming,” with many people offering their help.
As of now, the Las Vegas police and funeral home have not responded to requests for more information, but Ervin and Belin remain determined to reunite the ashes with Marcel’s parents.
