DAPHNE, Ala. (WKRG) – Sunday afternoon, Alan Nabors was doing what he does any time he has some free time – fishing. But, before he could make his first cast, something caught his eye in the sand at May Day Park in Daphne, Alabama.
“I was walking down the pier and I got my pole and all. I see a blue box and was like ‘OK, free tackle box,” Nabors recounted to Nexstar’s WKRG.
About the size of a shoebox, Nabors opened it up.
“I flip it open, and I’ve got Snapchat open and everything, open it up and I was like, ‘OK, it is not that,” said Nabors, who remembered thinking, “Shut that and called the cops.”
Back at police headquarters, the box, which spokesperson Heather deAngelo described as a “bereavement box,” was opened.
“It had an urn, a baby blue urn, that we are assuming may hold ashes of a baby boy,” deAngelo told WKRG. “There were some homemade items in there; blanket and mittens, some clay hand and footprints and there was a hospital bracelet in there from a hospital in Memphis [Tennessee].”
(Daphne Police)(Daphne Police)(Daphne Police)(Daphne Police)
Where it came from, how long it had been in the water, no one knows.
“It had been in the water a good minute because it was made out of particle board,” said Nabors. “The bottom of the box was shredded up. Now, when I opened it up, it didn’t look like there was any water in it. The blanket was still dry.”
It is not something Nabors will ever forget. But he hopes the mystery will eventually be solved.
“It’s not every day you find a tackle box that has got a baby in it,” said Nabors. “I hope the parents are found and they can be reconnected.”
If you recognize the box or have any information that can help, you are asked to contact Daphne Police.