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Non-profit offering reward to help find baby's stolen ashes

A $3,000 reward is now being offered for information on the location of baby Wyatt's ashes or who stole them.

COVINGTON, Ga. — A non-profit supporting members of the military is now pitching in a cash reward to help find a baby's ashes that were stolen along with the U-Haul they were in.

EveryWarrior is now offering $3,000 as a reward for information on who stole the travel truck or to have the ashes of little Wyatt returned to his family. The non-profit is based in Louisiana where Benjamin, who is serving in the Air Force, is moving along with his wife.

The heartbreaking set of events first began to unfold when Kassandra and Benjamin Benton were traveling through Covington and decided to stop for the night. When they woke up the next morning, the truck was gone.

Surveillance video from the La Quinta Inn, located at 9159 Access Rd NW, shows a man wearing a grey-colored top, light-colored pants, and a light-colored baseball cap, stepping out of a large black SUV around 1 a.m. Wednesday. A car then met with the SUV before driving off. The SUV followed the U-Haul.

Inside the travel truck, along with many of the belongings, Kassandra and Benjamin were traveling with, were their late son's ashes. And while the truck was found 30 minutes away from the hotel on Thursday morning, the ashes have not been recovered.

Credit: Benton family

Six-month-old Wyatt died five years ago.

“He lived six months. The last month was in hospice. And now we ended up losing his ashes, one of the most important things to us,” said Kassandra. 

Covington Police Captain Ken Malcom said officers have been doing everything they can to find the truck and its precious cargo. But Wyatt's family admitted that they're beginning to lose hope.

The reward being offered by EveryWarrior, however, may be just what's needed to bring a positive end to this story.

"We can’t sit back and not try to help. This family lost Wyatt at just six months old and we hate to see them feeling like they are losing their baby again,” Trey McGuire, founder of EveryWarrior, said.

The $3,000 reward being offered is the result of a large anonymous donation the organization received. The organization is also collecting donations to give the family which are separate from the reward money.

Anyone with information can call Covington Police Department at 770-385-2122.

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