Ladysmith theft leaves grieving families hoping for the return of memorial videos

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Nanaimo’s Shane Ballance and his sister Brie Ann Weir were still grieving the sudden death of their father in May when they got word of a devastating theft last month.

“I just got a call the other day from my crying step-mom saying, “Hey, I’ve got some news to tell you,” said Ballance.

“It was just a trigger, another trigger, just one more thing because we’ve had a pretty rough go,” added Weir.

Following their father’s death, they had purchased a unique package to memorialize him from Living Reef Memorial Canada in Ladysmith.

His ashes were mixed into a man-made reef that was lowered into the ocean near Ladysmith during a beautiful ceremony in July.

They were supposed to receive a video taken that day that would have been edited to show the process of his reef being made, but the business was broken into two weeks ago and a laptop with all the raw video was stolen.

“The person who did it went through here and inside the building,” said Kevin Owens who owns Living Reef Memorial in Ladysmith as he showed CHEK News a small rear window where the thief allegedly entered.

He says an old laptop and two go-pro-type cameras were stolen.

“There were probably seven to 10 families waiting for their videos to be made. Their reaction was tears, disbelief and anger,” he said.

Shane Ballance says he will offer a $1000 reward to get his memories back.

“Absolutely, anyone with information, just drop it off, no questions asked,” he said.

Dean StoltzDean Stoltz

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