Last Friday, Mistele Martinez said goodbye to her husband and two children during a funeral at Faith Tabernacle Church in west Greeley.

Martinez’s husband, Gilbert, 37, and two sons, Ethan, 6, and Bryson, 1, were killed in a crash Jan. 25 not far from their LaSalle home.

As if those events weren’t trying enough, Martinez learned late Friday night that several people attended the memorial service with cards and donations, but by the end of the funeral those donations had disappeared.

Pastor Danny Perdew said Tuesday that funeral directors placed at least one basket in the church foyer to serve as a collection bin when they realized how many people attended with cards. It’s unknown exactly how many people provided Martinez with a donation, but Perdew said he walked past the basket before the service started and it was overflowing with cards and envelopes.

Martinez suspects the basket and its contents were stolen. On Tuesday, she filed a report with the Greeley Police Department.

Anyone who wrote Martinez a check and dropped it in the basket Friday night is asked to cancel their checks before they can be cashed fraudulently. Should donors discover their checks have already been cashed or deposited, they should record where the transaction took place, note the amount and report the theft to Greeley police. Cash donors also are asked to call Greeley police to report their thefts to make a record of the total amount of stolen money, should suspects be identified in the case.

Anyone who thinks they have information about the theft also is encouraged to call police.