Cops: Teens Mistook Man's Ashes for Cocaine

(Newser) – Three teens in St. Peters, Missouri, are accused of breaking into a home and stealing everything from cash to jewelry. One reason this police item is making headlines, however, is because police say the trio also stole what they thought was a box of cocaine, reports the Smoking Gun. Except, no, it was the ashes of the occupant's father. One of the kids allegedly tasted the remains in the getaway car, realized it wasn't cocaine, and tossed the box of ashes out the window. One other reason the story is making headlines: The ashes apparently belonged to the kid's grandfather.

Victim Debora Matthews tells KMOV that two of the three suspects are minors, and those two are her dad's grandsons. "They did that to their grandfather," she says. "They didn’t even realize it was their grandfather’s ashes." All three face multiple felonies, though the minors will go through juvenile court. “I just couldn’t believe that they would take the ashes,” says Matthews. "But you know, they were kids and I guess just stupid."

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Ex-NFLer Watches, via Twitter, as Teens Trash Home

(Newser) – A Labor Day party at an ex-NFLer's Stephentown, New York, vacation home turned into a real mess, as hundreds of partying high-schoolers smashed windows, punched holes in walls, and graffitied the place, the AP reports. But it wasn't just that Brian Holloway was upset by the $20,000 in damage; his main concern was that he wasn't invited. His 19-year-old son spotted tweets about the party and told Holloway, who watched it unfold—by way of tweets and Twitter photos—from his Florida home; one photo showed people standing on a table that the former Patriots offensive lineman bought with his Super Bowl XX bonus. And the kids weren't exactly secretive: The New York Daily News reports that some spray-painted their names on walls; others tweeted invites to the Aug. 31 party a full five days before it happened.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, "It's not hard to identify who they were," says Holloway. "We've got 170 tweets. We have 200 to 220 names already confirmed today. And that data is all going to the sheriffs." That's not the only place the data is going: He has also been posting it to a website dubbed helpmesave300, in an effort to get the teens to come forward, take responsibility, and adjust their behavior. He also wants them to come back, only this time it's to clean up. "I believe that they can be turned around," he explains, per Fox Sports, which has photos from the party and its aftermath. "If we do nothing regarding these 300 students, we will have missed our chance to take a stand for their future."

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