GREENSBORO, N.C. — A Greensboro man's ashes were returned to his family days after a woman found them on the side of the road.
Shana Montague was driving through a Greensboro neighborhood looking for a new home. Instead, she found something in the trash.
"I thought it was a money bag, but it wasn't - it was Mr. Oscar, and I just kept him with me," Montague said. "I just don't think you should throw people away. I don't know if they meant to throw him away."
She took the ashes of Oscar Sherwin Tabb with her everywhere after discovering him and developed a connection with the man she'd never met.
"It was like, as soon as I picked him up, good stuff started happening. I got free ice cream from McDonald's, I found $20 on the ground. I was like 'Oscar, you're good luck," Montague said. "We're not even kin, but I'm your friend, Oscar."
However, Montague knew he needed to be reunited with his actual family.
"If you got him cremated and kept him for so many years, then obviously he was special to someone," Montague said.
Montague and her godmother, Melissa McKinney reached out to WFMY News 2 to get the word out in the hopes of finding his family.
"I don't know the kind of person he was, but I hope once you're all reunited, it will bring you some kind of peace to know he was taken care of once we found him," McKinney said.
There were few clues on Tabb's box. It said he died in January of 2014 and lists Allen and Associates Mortuary in Greensboro.
The mortuary told WFMY News 2's Grace Holland records going back even a couple of years can be hard to find.
An online obituary lists a Greensboro man by the same name. It said a service was held at Love and Faith Christian Fellowship Church.
The church told News 2 that they have no record of the funeral.
Moments after the story aired one of his daughters called the newsroom.
Tracy Tabb picked up her father's ashes from the women Wednesday afternoon. She said she gave them both big hugs.
Tabb said her father's ashes were thrown away by mistake while moving. Her dad was a Marine veteran who died of cancer in 2014.
She told us she's very grateful for the help and humbled that two strangers worked so hard to find her family.