Bloomington waitress wants stolen ashes of slain son returned

BLOOMINGTON -- Twenty-two-year-old Bloomington waitress Donetta Ernst is pleading for whoever stole the ashes of her slain 3-year-old son, Logan Bratton, to return them.

Logan died of a beating April 4, and Ernst's former boyfriend, Joe Mendez, has been charged with first-degree murder in his death.

Ernst said she placed some of Logan's ashes in a silver box the size of a baseball and always carried the box in her purse. The purse was stolen Wednesday night by someone who smashed the window Ernst's car with a cinderblock.

She said last night that she desperately wants the return of the box of ashes, and will not press charges against anyone who returns it.