Mistele Martinez on Friday said goodbye to her husband and two children during a funeral at Faith Tabernacle Church in Greeley.
Martinez’s husband, Gilbert, 37, and two sons, Ethan, 6, and Bryson, 1, were killed in a crash Jan. 25 not far from their La Salle home.
Martinez late Friday learned that several funeral attendees left donations. But by the end of the service, those donations had disappeared.
Pastor Danny Perdew on Tuesday said funeral directors placed at least one basket in the church foyer to serve as a collection bin when they realized how many people attended with cards. It’s unknown exactly how many people donated, but Perdew said he walked past the basket before the service started and it was overflowing with cards and envelopes.
Martinez suspects the basket and its contents were stolen.
Anyone who wrote Martinez a check and dropped it in the basket Friday night is asked to cancel the check before it can be cashed fraudulently.
Cash donors are asked to call Greeley police to report their thefts to make a record of the total amount, in the event that suspects are identified in the case.
