Murdered Syracuse man's ashes are at the center of family dispute

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Judson Watkins Jr.
Syracuse, NY -- Even after he was murdered, Judson Watkins Jr. couldn't escape trouble.

The 24-year-old Syracuse native was fatally stabbed earlier this year in Rome, two decades after his mother was murdered.

Now, Watkins' survivors are fighting over his cremated remains -- which sat at a Syracuse funeral home for eight months.

Watkins' grandmother, Ira Trotman, called Syracuse police on Saturday to report an alleged theft of the ashes.

Trotman, who raised Watkins at her Benedict Avenue home, alleged her son's wife took the ashes from the funeral home without her permission and then demanded $500 for them.

Sandra Snell-Watkins of Munnsville said she took the ashes because Trotman had abandoned them. "I think the boy deserved better," said Snell-Watkins, who said she never asked Trotman for money.

City police determined the dispute over the ashes is a civil matter, not a criminal offense, said Lt. Joseph Cecile. He said police plan to take no further action.

The ongoing battle is a final punctuation on Watkins' hard-luck life.

Mary Smith
Watkins was in diapers when his mother, 19-year-old Mary Smith, disappeared from Syracuse's Near West Side in 1985. Nine months later, Smith was found dumped in Radisson with about 40 stab wounds.

A grand jury charged Watkins' father, Judson T. Watkins Sr., with murder and manslaughter in connection with Smith's death. But a judge tossed out the indictment in 1989, saying the evidence did not support the charges.

Watkins' father -- who is serving a 25 year-to-life term in state prison for an unrelated rape -- was confined behind bars much of his son's life.

Watkins Sr. married Snell-Watkins on May 9 at the state prison in Auburn, she said.

Watkins Jr. "didn't get no type of break" during his life, said Tashia Hall, a relative of his.

In recent years, Watkins Jr. survived being stabbed in the face and shot in the leg.

But on March 8, he was one of two people stabbed to death during an early morning brawl outside a Denny's Restaurant in Rome.

A grand jury indicted one man on charges of murdering Watkins, but an Oneida County judge dismissed the case before trial because the evidence was weak, District Attorney Scott McNamara said.

After Watkins' funeral, his ashes were left at Farone & Son Funeral Home.

Trotman explained she had not collected the remains because she was "completely out of it" after the slaying.

Hall said that she suggested Snell-Watkins retrieve Watkins' remains before Thanksgiving because Trotman, her aunt, never picked them up. Snell-Watkins said Watkins' father in prison agreed she should pick up the ashes.

Trotman said she had full custody of her grandson when he was a minor, was the person who signed the funeral contract with Farone & Sons, and should control the remains.

She hoped to scatter his remains in St. Petersburg, Fla., because Watkins enjoyed visiting there, Trotman said.

A spokeswoman for Farone & Sons declined to comment Tuesday on the dispute over Watkins' ashes.

This is a satirical website. Don't take it Seriously. It's a joke.

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