CLEVELAND — Michael Africa took to Facebook Saturday morning, seeking the public's help locating the family, friends, or loved ones of a man named Michael Ingram.
While the two may share the same first name, Africa has no idea who Ingram is or the life he lived. All he knows is that his remains were found in the basement of a home in the 500 block of Cleveland's East 126th Street.
The remains were found by the home's new owner, who told us she just couldn't throw them out but also didn't know how to find the next of kin. So when she hired Mr. Africa to help remodel the home, the two decided together they would begin a quest to find a loved one of Mr. Ingram.
After asking several community members if they knew Mr. Ingram, the pair tried contacting the funeral home, Parnel Jones, listed on the card box containing the gold tin filled with the remains. According to Africa, they were dismissed without any answers.
"Michael Ingram was born in 1950 and he died in 1977, and I know somebody, — although cremated, although dead — they want that closure," Africa said. "I would think that."
Determined to do the right thing, Africa turned to social media, explaining the situation in hopes of spreading the word to more people.
"That social media is something else," explained Africa. "One young lady, she acted like I told her she needs to be a detective, because she’s on her jobI think she found somebody," he said.
Despite his efforts, nothing concrete has come from his quest yet, but Africa says he knows this is the right thing to do.
"I’m riding around with somebody's remains, somebody's loved one in my old work van," he said. "If [it] was my uncle or my cousin or somebody and their remains were out there somewhere, you know, you always want a final resting place."
And he doesn't want the recognition; just a reunion for the man with whom he happens to share the same first name.
"I just want to get this gentleman with somebody that loved him."
If you think you might know any of Ingram's relatives and know how to get in contact with them, please let me know. You can email me at kcotton@wkyc.com.