Student gives classmates sugar cookies baked with her grandfather's ashes -- and some ate them

A California high school student baked cookies, allegedly using her grandfather's ashes in the recipe. As if that wasn't horrifying enough, she brought them to school and gave them to classmates, some of whom actually ate the cookies, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The student, who attends Da Vinci Charter Academy in Davis, California, could be facing criminal charges for baking and distributing the cookies using human remains — whenever the police figure out exactly what crime she committed.

Hailey Branson-Potts of the L.A. Times writes:

"[Davis Police Lt. Paul] Doroshov said police opened a case and have been trying to determine which penal code would apply to baking human remains into food. Officers considered a California penal code section regarding the disposal of human remains in an improper manner but public-nuisance charges might be more appropriate, he said."

How did it happen?

Police say two female students were involved in bringing the cookies to school, although only one of them was related to the man whose ashes were allegedly used for the cookies.

Doroshov said at least nine other students received a cookie, and some ate them not knowing they were made with human ashes. Shockingly, however, some students "knew beforehand and still consumed the cookies."

One student, Andy Knox, went on the record with KCRA-TV to talk about his experience eating one of the ash cookies:

“I didn’t believe her until she pulled out the urn,” he said.

Knox said that the cookie didn’t taste unusual but “if you ever ate sand as a kid, you know, you can kind of feel it crunching in between your teeth. So, there was a little tiny bit of that.”

Police are still working with the school to figure out how to proceed, while the school's principal, Tyler Millsap, said "this is now a personal family matter and we want to respect the privacy of the families involved."