Washington woman who bought $3.99 urn from Goodwill reveals mystery has been solved

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The mystery behind an ashes-filled urn that was unexpectedly found by a thrifter in Seattle, Washington, has been solved after a TikTok video revealing the discovery reached 15 million people.

The woman, Josie Chase, was thrifting when she bought the $3.99 urn containing — as it turned out — the ashes of a dog named Toby at Goodwill. Earlier this month, she told Fox News Digital she was searching for the urn's owner and all she knew at the time was that the urn bore the name "Toby." 

"Happy ending to the Toby story," Chase said in a followup TikTok video. 

"His family reached out to Goodwill after seeing the video and news coverage and are so happy to be reunited with their family dog."

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"So thank you for getting the message out there and helping Toby be returned home," Chase told her viewers, who expressed relief in the comments section.

The Cava family in Georgia has been reunited with the ashes of their dog, Toby Cava, after Josie Chase found the remains in an urn at her nearby Goodwill. Jillian Cava holds Toby in this undated photo in 2015. (Fran Cava)

"So happy Toby’s family has been found!" someone commented. 

"So happy they got him back," another person said. 

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Toby Cava was a cairn terrier, owned by Michael and Fran Cava, who lived in Arizona at the time.

"My family got him in 2003 as our first family pet," Fran Cava, 64, of Peachtree City, Georgia, told Fox News Digital. 

"He loved to dig and hunt for squirrels and rabbits," Cava added. "He even caught a bird once — perhaps part of the breeding traits of his Scottish ancestry."  

Toby Cava was a cairn terrier and the family pet of Michael and Fran Cava. Pictured here are the couple's children, Chris (left) and Jillian (right), holding Toby when the pup was still alive. (Fran Cava)

When the Cava kids grew up, the Cava parents moved to Bellevue, Washington, in 2014 where Michael Cava traveled extensively for work.

"Toby was my faithful companion and comfort to me as I got settled in a new community," Fran Cava said. 

"Toby and I walked 3 to 4 miles a day on the beautiful hilly paths of Bellevue. One day, a mile into our walk, he suddenly stopped and began to have labored breathing. After carrying him home and going right to the vet, we were told he needed an emergency veterinarian to handle his care."

"He was diagnosed with a blood clot [in] his lungs," she added. "Sadly, there was no treatment, and we had to put him down."

"We left his ashes with our dog sitter, who loved him."

That was in 2015, when Toby was 12 years old. The family had the dog cremated and kept his ashes on their mantle. 

Then, in 2018, Michael Cava's job meant moving the family from Washington back to Arizona.

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"We left his ashes with our dog sitter, who loved him," Fran Cava said. "She promised to bury him under his favorite digging tree in her yard."

When Toby was 12, the family had to put him down — and had him cremated. Here, Toby's owner Fran Cava is pictured holding Toby. (Fran Cava)

Cava said that she and her family received word that their dog sitter had died last November. The dog sitter may have passed away before getting a chance to bury the ash-filled urn — which was then donated to Goodwill. 

But this month, a tech from the veterinary clinic where Toby was a patient recognized the urn as the same type they use to handle their patients’ cremations. 

"She forwarded the article to me in an email on Thursday," Cava said.

Fran Cava added that thrifter Josie Chase did a great kindness by contacting Goodwill after she bought the $3.99 that contained Toby's ashes. 

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Fran Cava also praised Goodwill for respecting "such a precious treasure." 

"Somehow and most remarkably, Toby found his way home to us, and we are so grateful," said Cava. 

Toby's urn was meant to be buried near his favorite digging tree in his dog sitter's backyard — but the urn somehow wound up at a Goodwill store in Washington state after the sitter passed away. (Fran Cava)

Before she came across Toby's urn, Chase, 24, a social media coordinator for two Seattle restaurants, had been collecting vintage clothing and accessories since 2018.

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One day while perusing some bins of newly donated items at her local Goodwill, Chase spotted the small gray urn with a blue ribbon tied around it.

The urn, which was later identified as a pet urn containing the ashes of a dog, had a sticker on the bottom. It read simply, "Toby Cava." (Josie Chase)

The urn had a sticker on the bottom of it that read "Toby Cava," which she assumed to be the name of a person who had died.

"Then, I unscrewed in and saw that there were ashes inside," Chase said. 

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"It was just kind of shocking and struck me and I thought, ‘Who would donate this? This is sad. It must have been a mistake or someone must have misplaced it.’ So, I thought maybe I could find someone who it was connected to [and] give it back." 

Josie Chase, a thrifter, was shocked when she unscrewed the lid of the urn to discover a bag of ashes inside. (Josie Chase)

Chase said she tried to flag down a worker, but the store was very busy at the time. So she put it in her cart and bought it for $3.99, hoping to find its owner or at least scatter the ashes herself.

She decided to post a video of the urn on her TikTok account @chasejosie, where she shares videos of her vintage finds and creations.

After doing some research and reading the comments posted on her TikTok video, Chase said she learned that it was most likely pet ashes. 

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Alyssa Grigg, senior director marketing and communications for Evergreen Goodwill of Northwest Washington, agreed, and reached out to Chase to retrieve the urn.

Alyssa Grigg with Goodwill reached out to Josie Chase (pictured) to retrieve the urn and eventually find its owner. (Josie Chase)

"We are happy that we were able to play a part in reuniting Toby the dog’s remains with his family so they can honor his memory," Grigg told Fox News Digital.

Grigg said Evergreen Goodwill has a standard protocol in place to check the contents of containers that are donated as those containers are being processed and prepared for sale. 

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"This was an egregious miss that should have never made it to the sales floor," Grigg said.

Whether intentional or not, Grigg said Goodwill sometimes receives sentimental objects or materials from donors. 

With help from Josie Chase of Seattle, Washington, and those at Goodwill, Fran Cava and her family has been reunited with the urn of her beloved family dog. Fran Cava's children, Chris and Jillian, are pictured on the left with Toby. (Fran Cava/Josie Chase)

"When our team does discover remains, we always do our best to reunite them with a family if possible," Grigg said. 

"We reach out to local funeral homes and if we are unable to locate a family member, we will find a scatter garden to spread the ashes respectfully. Remains are never disposed of in the garbage."

When Chase returned the urn, Goodwill reimbursed her and gave her a $50 gift card to the store.

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"I am very appreciative that they took matters into their own hands and handled this very respectfully and kindly," Chase said in a TikTok video update.