Buffalo Township mother isn't sure whose pet's ashes were added to her daughter's

Kadyn Jack and her dog Blue were inseparable.

Where the girl went, like a furry shadow the mini Australian shepherd followed.

Her mother, Kristi Jack, 52, said Kadyn would find any way to include Blue — named by 10-year-old Kadyn after her favorite color — in her day. Sometimes she’d find her daughter in the yard of their Buffalo Township home making obstacle courses for Blue to run through, sometimes even running through them with the dog.

That was before Kadyn got sick.

Unanswered questions

Even when Kadyn became sick in seventh grade, she remained a strong, joyful girl, Jack said.

Kadyn’s family wasn’t sure what type of illness had caused the young girl to be admitted to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh nine times in the span of a 18 months.

What seemed like the flu led Kadyn to spending half of her seventh and all of her eighth grade years in a wheelchair.

“(Doctors) could not find anything wrong with her,” Jack said. “They ran every test I asked or begged for, and they didn’t find anything.”

At one point, Jack said her daughter stopped eating and socializing.

“She completely shut down,” Jack said.

Unable to find the cause of Kadyn’s ailments, they began to think “it was all in her head,” Jack said. They began exploring solutions ranging from mental to physical treatments. Nothing seemed to work.

As time went on, Kadyn began to slowly improve with her appetite and mobility returning. She entered ninth grade being able to walk without support.

Throughout her journey, Blue was a loyal companion, staying with Kadyn when she needed comfort. Jack said Blue was Kadyn’s world.

“She didn’t care if friends didn’t ask her to go out and do something. She had her dog and she was hanging out,” Jack said. “She had her siblings and her dog. She didn’t care about anything else.”

The Jack family weren’t granted any answers about Kadyn’s illness until 2017.

“She was happy,” Jack said. “She was thriving until she wasn’t.”

On Dec. 13 Kadyn came to her mom asking if she could stay home from school. Then 14 years old, she explained she’d thrown up repeatedly all night and into the morning despite not having eaten. Jack helped her daughter onto the couch in Jack’s bedroom. When Kadyn was comfortable with a blanket and some ginger ale, Jack left the room to call the doctor.

“She hadn’t been that sick since she was in seventh grade,” Jack said.

When she returned to her bedroom, she found Kadyn struggling for breath. Her daughter lost consciousness and Jack began CPR. Kadyn was transferred to Allegheny Valley Hospital where she died the same day.

“I know those people in that emergency room heard me screaming, screaming for her, talking to her,” Jack said.

Her autopsy revealed a “green tinge” and green fluid around her heart and borrelia bacteria — a bacteria that causes Lyme disease — in her blood. Jack said doctors had previously tested for the bacteria, but the tests came back negative.

Jack and her husband, Jason, decided to have Kadyn cremated since the family doesn’t have a plot and Jack said she didn’t want Kadyn to be buried somewhere alone.

“I wanted her here with me,” Jack said, “with us.”

Kadyn was the middle of three children with an older sister Mackensey, 22, and a younger brother, Justin, 19.

Tragedy strikes again

In 2022, Blue passed of congestive heart failure. Jack pointed out the coincidence of Blue and Kadyn both having heart issues.

When she died, Jack suggested Blue’s ashes be added to Kadyn’s.

“They’d always be together,” Jack said.

The family had Blue cremated through their vet, River Valley Veterinary Hospital. When they were returned, Jack had Redmond Funeral Home add the ashes to Kadyn’s.

Jack was happy with the decision. Until she saw the news in April about the charges against funeral home director Patrick Vereb. River Valley had used Vereb’s services to cremate Blue.

“If (Kadyn) was alive, and she knew, she’d be marching for those animals,” Jack said. “Not only for her Blue. She’d be out there making sure her voice was heard. She would be doing something about it.”

Jack said Kadyn loved animals and was not afraid to voice her opinion.

Vereb was charged with the theft of almost $660,000 from customers who paid for pet cremations, burials, returns of ashes and other services between 2021 and 2024. He is accused of taking money for cremations but instead disposing of the animal remains in landfills and giving customers ashes that weren’t from their pets.

“I wanted to throw up,” Jack said.

She reached out the Attorney General’s Office to see if Blue’s death was within the time frame of Vereb’s alleged actions.

“They replied back to me and said, ‘yes, unfortunately your animal is a part of this,’ ” Jack said.

She said they couldn’t confirm if the ashes are Blue’s or if Blue was personally affected by Vereb’s alleged actions.

Jack doesn’t know what to do next.

“God only knows what’s in there with my daughter,” Jack said. “It makes me sick and it makes me angry. … It’s devastating.”

Jack said the discovery has completely broken her trust. It has her even questioning how she can confirm her daughter’s ashes are the ones in the box she keeps by her bedside.

“It makes you not trust anybody,” she said.