A Snohomish family is stuck in a terrible kind of limbo, unsure which agency in which country can help them find their daughter's missing ashes. 

Allexandra Apley-Conner contracted lung cancer as a 17-year-old - something extremely rare for one so young. Now some of her cremated remains can't be found. 

Allexandra died in April after a short but spirited battle with cancer. As an enduring reminder and tribute, her parents chose to have some of her ashes worked into a glass-art keepsake. 

KING

Allexandra died in April after a short battle with cancer.

"Somehow that just seemed like Allex," said Allexandra's mother Sharon Snell. "She was very artistic. Purple was her favorite color, so it all of a sudden struck us as her." 

The half-teaspoon of ashes was shipped from Solie Funeral Home in Everett to Technogranit, a Montreal company specializing in urns and memorial items. The package never got there. 

"April 18, it made it to the international country," said Doug Hutter, funeral director for Solie Funeral Home. "It made it to Vancouver."  

Hutter did the right thing, legally speaking, by sending the ashes by registered U.S. mail. And he's spent four frustrating months trying to track what he says is not just another lost package. 

"It is Allexandra," said Hutter. "I can't send her to this company any other way but the U.S. mail. UPS and FedEx won't accept human cremated remains." 

Allexandra's family has gotten different stories from the Canadian Customs Service. 

"One person will say, 'Yes, we received it and we're holding it' and another will say, 'We never received it,'" said Snell. "It's been an uphill battle ever since she got sick. It's like a whole 'nother battle, like somebody is threatening not to give us part of our daughter back." 

Snell says she just wants an answer. If the answer is to fly to Montreal with her daughter's death certificate and get her ashes out of Customs, she'll be on a plane tomorrow. She just needs somebody at Canada post or in customs to tell her what to do.

The Canada Post confirms that the parcel arrived in Vancouver on April 19. They launched an investigation after our phone call, but so far nothing has turned up.