Good Samaritan reunites Quebec mother with lost pendant containing son's ashes

A Gasp woman has been reunited with a special pendant containing her son's ashes after a journey involving several Quebec cities, a thoughtful man from Victoriaville, social mediaand a little luck.

Nancy Murray's 19-year-old son Dylan died last September in a car accident.

Murray put just a few of his ashes inside aheart-shapedpendant and has worn it around her neck ever since.

She was travelling from her home in Newport, Que. with her oldest son to see RogerWaters in concert in Montreal inmid-October.

Along the way, they made a stopover in Drummondvilleto visit Murray's sister.

They went out to a restaurant near the Costco gas station and when she returned to the car, she noticed the necklace was gone.

Murray became frantic. "I kind of turnedDrummondvilleupside down," she said.

She returned to the restaurant to look for it, and called her niece to see if she had left it at her sister's house. But it was nowhere to be found.

"I hopedand hopedand hoped to find it," Murray said. "I can't live without it. I really need it to deal with my loss."

The next dayshe posted a message on Facebook before she and her son headedto the concert in Montreal. The message spread like wildfire.

Meanwhile, Eduardo Orantesof Victoriaville was in Drummondvillethe very same day. He was in town for a friend's birthday party and had stopped at Costco for gas when he found Murray's prized pendant.

"Thefirst thing that I saw on the ground was the pendant. That's what's amazing. I saw the two hearts together, that meant for me a much-loved symbol."

He knew it was something special, so he kept it in his pocket and butdidn't think much about it.

The next day Orantes checkedFacebook and sawa shared post from a friend in Quebec City.

"When I saw the picture I recognized the pendant,"he said. "When I read the text, oh my God, I was really in shock."

Orantes said his first reaction was to get in touch with Murray.

Pendant wrapped in tiny box

Through Facebook, Oranteseventually tracked down Murray's phone number. She received a message late thenight after the concert. She called him early the next morningand drove to pick up the pendantat his office.

"I extended out my hand, and I said, 'nevermind ahand, give me a hug.'"

Orantesgave the pendant special treatment.

"When I realized what was in my hands, I put it in a little box and put itwith tissue to protect it," he said.

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Both Murray and Orantes say the widespread sharing of the message on social mediahelped bring them together.

Murray's also grateful it fell into the right hands.

"It could have [fallen] on someone else, who didn't have allthe honesty," she said."Eduardo is a good person and because of being a good person it came back to me."

Before Murray and her eldest son left, they invitedOrantesto visit them inNewport and he's agreed to come.

"I told him he was welcome, and I think some of my friends from Facebook mentioned, 'You have a lot of friends now in Gasp.'"