FORT MYERS, Fla.– A City of Fort Myers firefighter needs your help trying to reunite a family with the remains of their loved one that was found amid the debris of Hurricane Ian.
Firefighter Chris Tyler found an urn containing the remains of Donald J. Salvatore while clearing debris from Veronica S. Shoemaker Boulevard near Brookhill Drive in Fort Myers. The urn was virtually untouched, sealed inside of an orange five-gallon bucket from Home Depot.
Tyler was removing a fallen tree from the roadway the day after Hurricane Ian when he stumbled upon the bucket. He didn’t think anything of it until he lifted it and the lid popped off, revealing the urn inside.
“Figured it was just a bucket,” Tyler said. “I didn’t think it was going to be heavy, so when it was heavy, it was different. It popped open when I was moving it. I popped it open the rest of the way, and that’s when I found the urn inside.”
According to the engraving on the urn, the remains inside are those of Donald J. Salvator, who passed away at the age of 68 on April 30, 2019.
In his 16 years with the Fort Myers Fire Department, Tyler told NBC2’s Gage Goulding he’s never seen anything like this before.
Amid all of the chaos the day after the worst storm Southwest Florida has ever seen, the urn was sitting inside the bucket right in the middle of Veronica S. Shoemaker Boulevard. There was nothing around except for the fallen tree.
“It was just sitting there like nothing happened, like somebody placed it on the side of the road almost,” he said. “It could’ve been meant for us to be there to take care of that situation so we could end up finding it and locate the family members.”
In the month following the storm, Tyler has spent his downtime at the station and even his time off-duty researching, calling and doing anything he can to find Salvatore’s family.
Gage: “Have you had any luck?”
Chris: “Not really. Every single lead that I’ve found has just ended up being a dead end. I’ve been looking since probably two days after the hurricane. I called the funeral home and the funeral home just told me information that I already found out.”
Tyler was able to find an old address in Nokomis, but there the lead went cold. He then posted a picture on social media in hopes of sparking some traction. But again, he hit another dead end.
“I’ve had a lot of ‘Hey, I might know this person.’ Or a person tagging somebody with the same last name, but it all ends up being nothing.”
Now he’s turning to the public, asking if you might know the Salvatores or know how to reach the family.
“I was more of trying to get closure in finding the family and get it taken care of that way, that way he’s back with his family,” Tyler said. “If it was my family member, I would want somebody looking out trying to find me.”
If you know the Salvatores or have any information that could help Tyler reunite the family with Donald’s remains, please call the Fort Myers Fire Department at 239-321-7311.
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November 08, 2022 at 12:42PM
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