Crystal Shabaker said she and her twin brother David Dungan were adopted at a young age.
"We were put in foster care at 3 and adopted together at 5, so he's my only family," Shabaker said.
Since then it's been just the two of them. But he passed away in December and was cremated.
"We had no family for us to have a funeral and he didn't want to be buried in the ground," Shabaker said.
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"I wanted his son to have a part of his dad because his death was really hard on him," Shabaker said.
She said she mailed the package of cremains through the United States Postal Service but they never reached their destination.
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"I tracked the package and it went from Denton to [a] Fort Worth distribution center and then it stopped there and sat there for a month," Shabaker said.
After a month of trying to locate them and filing a lost item claim for $10,000, she got a letter saying she was approved for $50.
"A $50 check isn't going to make up for it,” Shabaker said. “Finding my brother's ashes would."
NBC 5 reached out to the postal service for answers. We were given a statement from a spokesperson that said:
“The Postal Service always strives to provide the best possible service to our customers. In this instance, we first wish to offer our condolences to the family and a sincere apology for the unintended delay in delivering this important package. We are keenly aware of the desire to locate the parcel as soon as possible. We regret that, to date, the package has not been located. We are committed to an ongoing and vigilant search and will continue working with the customer to resolve this matter.”
As for Shabaker, she makes this request to the Post Office so hopefully no other family has to feel her pain.
"Treat it as if it were your family member," Shabaker said. "Show a little more respect for these packages. A little more care. And I want my brother found."
