Man Steals Urn With Ashes

Police say a Southbury man is accused of stealing an urn filled with the ashes of his girlfriend's grandmother from her home on Friday night.

Police said 37-year-old Mark Kzakrzeski (pronounced Zak-ar-ZESS'-kee),  of 414  Kettletown Road in Southbury, carried a pistol when he stole the urn Friday at the Oxford home at 425 Chestnut Tree Hill Road. He did not shoot the gun and nobody was injured.

State Trooper Joe D'Uva said Kzakrzeski told police he threw the ashes and urn in the woods behind the woods. Police searched in the snow for the urn but had not found it was of Monday.

Resident Trooper Sgt. Dan Semosky  said the man had a gun with him prior to police arriving, then he left the home and fled toward Southbury. He said police recovered the weapon at the man's house on Friday.

Semosky said the man stole the urn to upset the woman.

"It was a case of domestic violence," he said. "He admitted taking the urn, he left and we arrested him."

The woman who owns the house, Danielle Pace, told Fox 61 that she was heartbroken over the incident and that she was going to spread her grandmother's ashes in Long Island where she grew up. She said she was going to write a poem to read when she spread them.

She told Oxford Patch that she was in the middle of being interviewed by Fox 61 this afternoon, that she was very angry about the situation and asked us to call her back. She has not returned repeated messages since.

He said Kzakrzeski is known to police, but he did not immediately know details about the man's criminal record.

Kzakrzeski was charged with sixth-degree larceny, carrying a revolver without  a permit and disorderly conduct. He was being held Monday on $50,000 bond and was scheduled to appear Tuesday at Derby Superior Court.

Stay with Oxford Patch for more information on this story.