I am so glad I never tried that - though I was thinking of starting the experiment with a wicker basket containing junk. (There are times I want to keep stuff really safe, and the safest place right now is in someone's inventory - especially someone who is logged out, and who hasn't left any clues behind them

) So I'd wondered whether I could lift a container before logging out rather than transferring items to my inventory. I guess that wouldn't be a good idea.
p.s. you have my sympathy on the loss - that sounds really painful.