KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) - A family has been reunited for the holidays. After at least 13 years of searching, Reta Tinsley nephew’s ashes are finally back with his loved ones.

“Weird, surprised, weird, excited,” Tinsley said. “I was like, ‘Oh my god. I really never thought we would ever find his ashes ever again.’”

Sgt. Jeremy Burns with the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office says a women was driving along I-79 when she spotted Theodore David Shirkey’s ashes abandoned along I-79 in Elkview.

“It was kind of funny,” Tinsley said. “I’m like, ‘Who in the world would take his ashes up Elkview and put it on the side of the road?’”

Tinsley’s discovery led Kanawha County deputies to try to find the family of a man’s cremated remains Thursday.

“We knew the name because ashes do have ID’s in

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