Manuel “Manny” Santos’ family is raising money through a GoFundMe page so they can afford to bring his remains to Washington state. The young man died, when he was hit by a car on November 13, 2020, but no one knew it was him until February this year.
Mr. Santos’ family reported him missing in 2022, not knowing the man police classified as John Doe from the November 2020 accident was their relative. Mr. Santos’ remains were cremated in 2021 by a non-profit group that provides Christian burials for poor or unclaimed people.
Police detectives compared autopsy photos to photos of Mr. Santos, and on February 12 this year, they notified the Santos family of their findings.
“We are humbly asking for monetary donations to help assist with the overwhelming expenses when it comes to losing a loved one like traveling back home to retrieve his remains and bringing him back to Washington as his final resting place, as well as to give him the proper memorial on Guam and Washington that he deserves,” Tonya Isabel Santos wrote in the description of the GoFundMe page she organized for his family.
The family has been struggling to pay for expenses related to their journey for closure. They are paying for memorials in Guam and Washington. Yesterday, they incurred costs for the exhumation of his remains so that his ashes could be brought to Washington. The travel costs for his mother and father to escort his ashes is considerable.
Ms. Santos wrote, “Manuel was the goofball in the family, always making anyone and everyone around him laugh. He always had a positive outlook in life, never taking anything too seriously. He enjoyed the simple things in life, cooking, barbequing, and spending time with his friends and family.”
Memorial services in Guam will be held for Manny at San Agustin’s Funeral Home on Thursday, May 2, 2024, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
