Dave and Lorraine Hutchison made the appeal Tuesday afternoon in front of their Clements Road East home. The couple lost their son Johnathan six years ago when he was just 16 days old.

“He’s already been taken from us once, now he’s been taken away again,” said Mr. Hutchison, as his wife broke down in tears.

The couple, who have two other sons, repeated the same sentiment several times as they described their heartbreak at finding out the pendant had been stolen.

“It’s just got my boy in it,” said Ms. Hutchison, a nursery school supervisor,
    The couple said they don’t care how it is returned or about the other items stolen, they just want the pendant back.

“Do you guys realise what you’re doing to people’s lives? Look at my wife and I, we’re devastated by this event,” said Mr. Hutchison, who works for the Ontario Curling Association. As the couple spoke, a carpenter was repairing the front door, the entry point for the theft.

The pendant was a gift from a friend for Ms. Hutchison’s 40th birthday last year. Her husband placed the ashes in the pendant and gave it to her the morning before she ran her first half-marathon last October.

“You always wanted to run with Johnathan, today you’re going to,” Mr. Hutchison told his wife.

As she ran past the Hospital for Sick Children, where her son was admitted when he was two days old, Ms. Hutchison touched the locket.

“He couldn’t run, so I run with it,” she said.

The circular pendant, on a 16-inch silver chain, is about the size of a toonie and three-quarters-of-an-inch thick. Leaves and branches are engraved on both sides of the pendant. It’s soldered shut, so whomever took it likely doesn’t know what’s inside, noted the couple.

Durham police joined the Hutchisons in appealing for its return.

“The No. 1 thing for us is returning this pendant,” said police spokesman Dave Selby. Police have already contacted pawnshops and neighbours and plan to further canvass the neighbourhood.

Mr. Selby said it can be given back to anyone in authority, whether it’s dropped off at a police station or handed to a bus driver with instructions to contact the police.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 905-579-1520, ext. 2524, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.