2 cremate my dad and bring him home

My father, Richard Smith, and his sister, Monique Krewell went sailing in early May 2014. By the end of the month no one had heard from them. Having a heavy feeling of worry, I called the Coast Guard around June 9th for a Search and Rescue. After a few weeks there was one possible lead, but then nothing. The Coast Guard eventually called off the search with no direction to go. At the same time I contacted the Sacramento Police's Missing Persons with all the information I had on my father and aunt. For a few months I heard nothing, I sat in worry and heartbreak as I cleaned out my father's home, moved his few remaining things into storage in hopes that he would return, but began accepting I might never find out what happened to them out on the water. My father didn't have much, and poured his money into the sailboat. Financially, I was left to tend to his belongings as best I could.



It wasn't until Detective Hatch contacted me a couple months ago with a possible John Doe lead. Detective Hatch pieced together a John Doe in the database who was listed as 5' 6", but with a size 13 shoe. My father was 6'2" with a size 13. It was the shoe size that caught Detective Hatch's attention. The body had been found by the Navy on the island of Santa Maria on August 4, 2014, and is still there. Detective Hatch traveled to S. Lake Tahoe to obtain a DNA sample from me, which confirmed the body is my father. My aunt's body is still missing. I can not thank Detective Hatch enough for going the extra mile and bringing closure to my unanswered prayers. Being a single mother of two boys, we wish to bring my father's cremated body home and put him to rest. But because cremation and transport costs are so high I am asking for community support through GoFundMe to bring my father home. Any and all donations are deeply appreciated for my family. Thank you for listening to our story.