HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — A fraud alert from over the weekend is what tipped Stefanie Zito-Lemaster off to the fact that someone had broken into her car.
"I got a text message from my bank asking if I was Cash-Apping someone named 'Lil Jeff' $300," she said.
And while her purse and credit cards can be replaced—she says they also took something that's irreplaceable.
"I went back in my center console and that's when I realized she was gone and I just, I couldn't believe it. I didn't know what to do," she said.
Her daughter Zoe's ashes were stolen three years after the 6-week-old died from SIDS.
"She came everywhere with me," she said.
Zito-Lemaster tells ABC Action News crooks hit cars all over her Gibsonton neighborhood over the weekend. In her case, she says they got in because she forgot to lock her car doors.
Because of this, she's sharing a warning with other homeowners across the Tampa Bay area.
"Be cautious, set an alarm for a certain time at night to lock your car, take precaution. Never in my life would I have thought this would happen over a silly mistake of me forgetting," said Zito-Lemaster.
And she's also sharing this message for whoever stole Zoe's ashes:
"Just give her back, please. She means nothing to you; you gain nothing from her. Just let me have her back," she said.
