After 3 Weeks, U.S. Postal Service Finally Delivers Man's Remains

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Brooklyn man whose brother's remains were lost by the U.S. Postal Service received some good news Thursday.

As CBS 2's John Slattery reported, the cremated remains of Michael Schecter were located and finally delivered to his brother, Ken.

"Amazing," Ken Schecter said. "A huge relief. I haven't slept in days."

Slattery was at Ken Schecter's Coney Island home when a postal supervisor arrived with the package from Kennedy Airport.

"I'm glad to have him home," Ken Schecter said. "I'm glad we can all have some closure."

But it was a long, painful wait. Michael Schecter, an aerospece engineer who lived in Los Angeles, died of cancer last month at age 63.

The cremation was handled by the Neptune Society, which said on Nov. 13 it shipped the remains in a box from Valley Village, Calif., to New York City on second-day Priority Mail with the U.S. Postal Service. But the Postal Service lost track of it.

Less than a day after Slattery reported the story, the remains were found and their delivery was expedited.

"Thank God for CBS," Ken Schecter said. "Thank God for John Slattery."

The Postal Service told CBS 2: "Thanks to your intervention, we were alerted to a situation that we were able to remedy."

After more than three weeks, the family can now make plans for a memorial service. They plan to have some of Michael Schecter's remains scattered over the Pacific Ocean and some launched into orbit on a commercial satellite.

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