'Thank you, Lord': Grieving mother receives son's belongings after FedEx botches delivery

Betty Lin-Fisher, Akron Beacon Journal
·8 min read
Shirley Walker, left, comforts her neighbor Rebecca Shepard, who reacts to finally receiving items, including the blanket she is holding, that belonged to her son Wesley Shepard, 33, who recently died in Los Angeles. The items were delivered to the wrong address and missing for several weeks.
Shirley Walker, left, comforts her neighbor Rebecca Shepard, who reacts to finally receiving items, including the blanket she is holding, that belonged to her son Wesley Shepard, 33, who recently died in Los Angeles. The items were delivered to the wrong address and missing for several weeks.

This story luckily has a happy ending of sorts, but it didn’t start out looking that way.

Rebecca Shepard is undergoing chemotherapy for Stage 4 ovarian cancer, which has spread to her liver and bones. Her son, Wesley Shepard, was found dead at age 33 in his Los Angeles apartment in early May.

Three 50-pound boxes of Wesley’s belongings, which his mother and family members packed up and shipped FedEx, were delivered to the wrong Akron house and were still missing when Rebecca recently reached out to the Beacon Journal.

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She feared the last of her son’s belongs were gone forever.

“This was all I have of my deceased son besides his ashes,” she wrote. “My dying wish is to retrieve something, anything back.”

What followed was definitely a roller coaster of emotions for the grieving mom.

Unknown death

Wesley Shepard was living in Los Angeles pursuing his dream of becoming a sound engineer after growing up in Akron and getting his associate degree in Atlanta and his bachelor’s degree in California. He returned home to Akron when his father, Rebecca’s husband, was dying of Lou Gehrig’s disease, or ALS. He got “stuck” here during the COVID-19 pandemic, but had moved back to California, his mom said.

Wesley called or video-chatted with his mom daily. She last spoke with him on May 3 and when he didn’t call on May 4, she became worried. She called the police, who found him dead. He had a high blood pressure condition that had worried his mom, who is awaiting autopsy results.

Rebecca and a few family members rushed to California to pack up Wesley’s belongings and have him cremated. They packed three large garbage bags of his belongings, including shirts and items with his favorite Marvel characters, 15 pairs of shoes that could fit his younger brother, small electronics, pictures and jewelry.

They put them in three large, 50-pound FedEx boxes, paid $600 and shipped them back to Rebecca’s West Akron home on Hartford Avenue. She did not insure the packages nor did she pay for signature delivery. She'd never had issues with package delivery and feared the packages would get returned if no one was home.

Rebecca Shepard, who is battling cancer, becomes tearful as she looks at the media arts diploma of her late son Wesley, who is pictured on the shirt she is wearing.
Rebecca Shepard, who is battling cancer, becomes tearful as she looks at the media arts diploma of her late son Wesley, who is pictured on the shirt she is wearing.

Packages delivered, but where?

On May 15 at 1:34 p.m., a Sunday, Rebecca received an email that her packages had been delivered. She was not home. She and family members were planning Wesley’s celebration of life services.

But the packages were not at her house. Rebecca and a neighbor checked their doorbell camera video footage and saw no delivery.

The next day, she talked to a local FedEx manager, who said the GPS showed two stops that day, but on Hardesty Avenue, the next street over. The manager said he would talk to the driver and would go out to investigate the next day.

The manager said the driver insisted that he delivered the three large packages to the correct address. Rebecca suspected the driver dropped them off at the same street address as hers, but on the next street over on Hardesty instead of Hartford. The house is vacant and being renovated, she said.

Through a public records search, she found that the owner of the house where the packages were accidentally delivered also lived a few streets over. But Rebecca said she did not feel comfortable going to either house and believed it was FedEx’s responsibility to locate the packages.

Two weeks later, when Rebecca reached out to me, the packages were still missing. The manager said unless they had footage of the packages being delivered to the wrong house, there was nothing more FedEx could do.

Betty Lin-Fisher
Betty Lin-Fisher

Rebecca did not call police. It was her understanding that it is not theft if someone receives a package incorrectly at their residence. But she still didn’t know if the packages were taken by someone else after being delivered.

She said FedEx was trying to rush her to file a complaint for a refund to stop the investigation.

Some details of what FedEx did to try to find the missing packages are unclear. A FedEx spokeswoman would only confirm scant details with me, saying they were working with Rebecca to find the lost packages and that they'd communicate directly with her.

The local manager told Rebecca that FedEx workers left a note with painters who were working on the Hardesty house where the packages may have been delivered. They asked if the owner would reach out to FedEx. But FedEx also never confirmed that the packages were delivered to the wrong house before she reached out to me.

Rebecca received a phone call on June 2, the same day I emailed FedEx’s media relations department inquiring about the case.

Rebecca Shepard reacts to dealing with the automated FedEx customer service phone system as she tries to get information about missing packages containing the belongings of her Wesley Shepard, 33, who recently died in Los Angeles.
Rebecca Shepard reacts to dealing with the automated FedEx customer service phone system as she tries to get information about missing packages containing the belongings of her Wesley Shepard, 33, who recently died in Los Angeles.

A representative told Rebecca they received my inquiry and could confirm the packages were delivered to the same street address one street over. But FedEx had still not heard from the owner.

Rececca was heartbroken and resigned to the fact that her son’s belongings were missing. She just wanted something from her son for herself and other family members to “have a part of him.”

“It just makes me sick to think that some stranger is out there wearing his shoes,” she told me.

Rebecca Shepard, left, hugs Gerald Williams, who delivered packages of items that belonged to her late son. FedEx incorrectly delivered the packages to a property that Williams was selling instead the Shepard home.
Rebecca Shepard, left, hugs Gerald Williams, who delivered packages of items that belonged to her late son. FedEx incorrectly delivered the packages to a property that Williams was selling instead the Shepard home.

Packages found

The next night, Rebecca received another phone call from FedEx saying they had heard from the house's owner. The packages were in his garage and FedEx would pick them up the next morning and drop them off at Shepard’s house around 10 a.m.

On June 4, as a Beacon Journal photographer and I waited with Rebecca and some family members, she said she’d believe it when she opened the packages and saw her son’s belongings.

After about 30 minutes, there was no FedEx truck in sight. Rebecca’s niece went to the other house to see if anyone was waiting there for the pickup. No one was there.

I drove over to the house where we believed the owner lived to see if he was there.

No one answered the door when I knocked. I left a note on the door with a message and my phone number.

As I was getting in my car, Gerald Williams came outside.

Williams did not realize the packages delivered to a house he is renovating were delivered in error.

“I'm trying to sell it,” Williams said of the house. “I assumed it was the lady who wanted to purchase it and that she already had ordered stuff.”

Williams pulled the large boxes into the garage and didn’t think anything else of it. He didn't notice the packages were addressed to Hartford Avenue, not Hardesty Avenue.

The day before Williams and I spoke, a person working on his house notified him that there was a note from FedEx asking him to call about the incorrect delivery. Williams said he’s not sure when the note was left by FedEx.

No one from Fed Ex asked Williams to go to the house on Hardesty to meet the FedEx truck.

“Unless there’s a note on the door,” he said. “I haven’t gotten a call. Matter of fact, I’ll just take my truck and I’ll take them to her,” he said.

I told him Rebecca would be ecstatic. We arranged for him to go to his house to get the packages and to meet us at Rebecca's house.

About 10 or 15 minutes after getting back to Rebecca's house, her younger son, Jayson Lockett, and I drove over to the Hardesty house to see if Lockett could help load the heavy boxes.

Rebecca Shepard receives news from her niece that she will soon be receiving packages containing the belongings of her late son. The packaged were delivered to the wrong address by FedEx.
Rebecca Shepard receives news from her niece that she will soon be receiving packages containing the belongings of her late son. The packaged were delivered to the wrong address by FedEx.

Reunited with deceased son's belongings

Rebecca began to cry as she saw the lost packages arriving on her front porch.

Williams told her: “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t pay attention to the address. I just put them in my garage.”

“Sir, that’s all I have left of my son,” she replied as she followed him to his truck to give him a hug.

Rebecca Shepard, left, hands a shoe that belonged to her late son, Wesley Shepard, to her son Jayson Lockett as her niece Jessica Lockett watches.
Rebecca Shepard, left, hands a shoe that belonged to her late son, Wesley Shepard, to her son Jayson Lockett as her niece Jessica Lockett watches.

'Oh my God, thank you, Lord'

Rebecca opened the first package to pull out Wesley’s blanket. She smelled it and wrapped it around her shoulders. She found a pair of tennis shoes and handed them to Lockett. She also pulled out Spider-man fruit snacks and his diploma.

“Oh my God, thank you, Lord,” she said.

After opening the packages to make sure everything was intact, Rebecca said she was relieved but still upset by the ordeal.

"With my cancer, it’s just so much stress the last two weeks, but I’m going to get better," she said. "I hate to say this, but FedEx lied through the whole process.  But I am glad to get my stuff.”

Rebecca Shepard looks through a Marvel snack box as she goes through items that belonged to her son who recently died. The packages with his belongings were delivered to the wrong address by FedEx.
Rebecca Shepard looks through a Marvel snack box as she goes through items that belonged to her son who recently died. The packages with his belongings were delivered to the wrong address by FedEx.

Rebecca called me about 20 minutes later to say FedEx called to check on the status of her packages. She told them they had been delivered, but not by FedEx.

I emailed the FedEx spokeswoman who contacted me to tell her what transpired that morning and to ask whether Rebecca would be receiving a refund of her $600.

The only response I received was this: “We continue to review the circumstances behind this matter and are in direct contact with Ms. Shepard, who has received the shipments in question.”

Rebecca later confirmed for me that she did receive a refund for her $600.

Beacon Journal staff reporter Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her @blinfisherABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/BettyLinFisherABJ To see her most recent stories and columns, go to www.tinyurl.com/bettylinfisher

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Grieving mother gets son's belongings after FedEx botches delivery