Gwinnett Woman's Remains Wash Up On Florida Shore

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA — How it happened remains a mystery. But there's a happy ending for a Gwinnett County family after the cremated remains of a local woman washed up on shore at a Florida Beach.

Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office deputies were called to Gulfshore Drive in Destin, Florida, last Friday after a man found a plastic bag, with what appeared to be cremated remains in it, on the beach.

The bag also contained a tag with a name, date of birth, Social Security number and a case number. It listed the location of death as DeKalb County, as well as the name of Wages and Son Funeral Home in Lawrenceville.

A technician with the sheriff's office, Monique Caldwell, contacted Wages and Son on Wednesday and, together, they were able to confirm that the bag contained the remains of a woman named Ngacloan Hua.

Back in Georgia, recent months had hatched a different, sadder mystery.

Hua's sister told the sheriff's office that, after the woman died in April, family members had gone to a special spot to pray with the remains.

While they were doing so, the box containing those remains disappeared. The family has no idea what happened. They say maybe somebody just took them.

Her family has no connection to Destin, the sheriff's office said.

Even if they did, it would still boggle the mind how those remains made their way into the waters off of Destin — a beach town on Florida's panhandle about 350 miles southwest of Lawrenceville.

"Caldwell says the sister was absolutely elated to learn the remains had been located, and asked that the (sheriff's office) package the bag and return it to the family," the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office said on Facebook.

That's a happy — if still puzzling — ending for everyone involved.

Photos courtesy Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office