Man who took woman’s mother’s ashes charged with first-degree felony harassment
A man from Joplin is facing charges related to an unusual alleged crime.
Sebastian Drake Burch is accused of taking a woman’s ashes and threatening to flush them unless her surviving daughter met him and left the state of Missouri with him.
Jasper County Deputies took Burch into custody when he met the woman’s daughter at a local church. The ashes and the urn they were in were recovered.
Nevaeh Lovato (Victim) and Aaron Lovato (Witness) stated that Sebastian had taken her mother’s ashes, which were in a blue Urn costing approximately $40 from Amazon.
Nevaeh told me that Sebastian began messaging her and sending photos of the Urn with her mother’s ashes. In the messages, Nevaeh is seen asking several times for Sebastian to bring back the ashes, and he refused unless Nevaeh showed up alone, get into his vehicle, and leave the state of Missouri.
Sebastian had called and messaged Nevaeh approximately 10-12 times while speaking with her. In those messages, Sebastian had threatened to destroy and flush Nevaeh mother’s ashes.
While on scene, Nevaeh was crying, having difficulty thinking, and looking scared/frightened due to Sebastian taking and threatening to destroy the ashes.
Nevaeh was able to get Sebastian to meet at a church in Jasper County, Missouri. Sebastian arrived on scene and spoke with Nevaeh for a short time before trying to leave. Several deputies were in the area, and he was stopped. Sebastian was read Miranda Rights and told us the Urn was located in the back seat under a blanket.
Burch has pleaded not guilty to felony charges of first-degree harassment.
He’s being held on a $10,000 cash or surety bond.