Unfortunately these lost cremains stories are all too common. People lose the remains of loved ones all the time, either stolen, or they end up and a teddy bear like this.
This is just a callous disregard for the sanctity of the human body. Bury someone or burn them. But at least have the decency to treat the remains with respect.
I have a brother who is mean and would not allow our oldest brother to even move back into the family home when he needed to. It was not even his call to make but he would not allow our older brother in the house. Six months later our oldest brother died alone in an empty apartment. It was six weeks before he was even found. It was left to me to handle the services. I threatened to have our brother cremated and sprinkle his ashes in and around our family home so as to haunt the brother who was so callous and mean. Of course I didn’t do any such thing, but if I had considered cremation, if I had no respect for earthly remains, I might have just done that.
Well I reject the notion that the human body or its remains has anything to do with the soul. The soul moves on. I believe that animals have souls too, although not the same as humans. I saw a soul leave a dead body once, so it seemed to me at the time. It went as if with a purpose, into another dimension or something. But the body was like a useless thing afterward.