On Wednesday afternoon, Kristie Steele, a Veresdale Scrub resident and estate agent at Ray White, was at Officeworks, Beenleigh, buying “nice paper” in preparation for her beloved grandmother’s, Daphne Mary Branton, funeral on Friday.
Since Ms Branton’s passing last week at the age of 94, her family has been focused on giving her the best send-off possible, arranging flowers, writing eulogies, and collecting photos.
During Ms Steele’s 15-minute pit stop at Officeworks, she misplaced the keys to her grey Toyota Land Cruiser somewhere in the shop or the car park, where staff helped her scour shelves and the ground for close to an hour.
In that short period of time, the car, which contained Ms Branton’s ashes and Ms Steele’s personal belongings, including credit cards and her laptop, was stolen.
“It’s not the car at all,” Ms Steele said.
“Her funeral’s tomorrow, we’re still going to do it, but we just hope that we have her back to do that.
“My whole work life is in there [the car] as well as this, and it’s just really hard to deal with at the moment.”
The Toyota, which has a KPS77 license plate, has been spotted in Park Ridge and Woodridge and travelled on toll roads in Loganlea and Compton Road.
Credit cards belonging to members of Ms Steele’s family, which were in the Toyota at the time it was stolen, have been used at Kmarts in Woodridge, Sunnybank, and Brown Plains.
CCTV footage from the Officeworks and River Road Tavern has captured images of the man, Ms Steele alleges stole her car, but has so far not returned any concrete leads on his, or the ashes, whereabouts.
“They know who it is,” Ms Steele said. “I’ve got a photo of him now. It’s not a good photo, but I’m sharing it on Facebook, all the family are on the local community pages.
“We just want her back, we want everything back.”
Ms Steele and her family are appealing to the public for help in finding the car and, more importantly, its contents.
Anyone who may have Ms Branton’s ashes, which are packaged in a dark blue box with Ms Branton’s name on the front, a white ceramic urn, packaged in a light blue box, and Ms Steele’s work resources, can drop them at any Ray White office, retail store, or police station.
Police have confirmed that their investigations into the matter are ongoing and encourage the public to come forward with any information about the Land Cruiser’s location, including dashcam footage from around 2pm on 10 December on or near Logan River Road, Beenleigh.
Ms Branton’s funeral will be held at 12pm tomorrow, Friday, 12 December.
Image: Daphne Mary Branton. Kristie Steele.
