Man who stole urn containing child’s ashes sentenced to 15 years

A Harvey man accused of burglarizing an Elmhurst residence where he stole, among other things, an urn containing the ashes of the victims’ child, was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison.

Glenn Addison, 68, of the 500 block of East 149th Street, entered a plea of guilty to one count of residential burglary on Aug. 18. Due to Addison’s criminal history, he was eligible for Class X sentencing, according to a DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office news release.

On Dec. 9, 2019, Elmhurst police received a call regarding a residential burglary on Melrose Street. The victims told police that a coin collection and an urn containing the ashes of the their infant son were missing, the release stated.

Through the course of an investigation, Elmhurst police gathered sufficient information to charge Addison, who was at the time on parole for a 2014 burglary. On Dec. 17, 2019, Addison was arrested and taken into custody without incident from his home in Harvey.

He appeared in bond court the following day where bond was set at at $750,000. He has remained in custody since that time at the DuPage County Jail. At the bond hearing, Judge Jeffrey MacKay signed an order immediately releasing the urn containing the baby’s ashes back to the family.

“Mr. Addison’s criminal behavior has once again landed him behind bars as he now finds himself looking at a fifteen-year sentence,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Berlin said in the release. “The fact that Mr. Addison stole an urn containing the ashes of a deceased infant, which offered absolutely no monetary value to him, demonstrates the utter callousness of his actions and his complete disregard for the sanctity of human life.

“Thanks to the outstanding work of the Elmhurst Police Department, the victims in this case will not only receive justice for the crime committed against them, they are once again in possession of their infant son’s ashes, which if lost, could never be replaced.”

Addison will be required to serve 50% of his sentence before being eligible for parole. He will receive credit for time served thus far.