40 Graves Desecrated—

Police Investigating Extensive Vandalism At St Rose Cemetery

By Andrew Gorosko

Ned Steinmetz and his stepson, Owen Talboys, worked methodically on a brisk Monday morning, carefully using a crane-mounted sling and steel tools, as needed, to jockey back into place dozens of massive granite monuments that had been knocked from their pedestals by vandals over the Halloween weekend at St Rose Cemetery.

The two men from Brown’s Monument Works in Monroe traveled through the church graveyard off Black Cherry Lane, near Cherry Street in Sandy Hook, in the morning chill, making basic repairs to gravestones that unknown vandals had knocked over either late Saturday, which was Halloween, or early Sunday morning, which was All Souls’ Day.

The two men arrived at the church cemetery at first light on Monday, in seeking to reposition the toppled gravestones before the survivors of the people buried there would encounter the vandalism.

“We wanted to [reposition] everything back up off the ground,” Mr Steinmetz said. Other monument companies also would be coming to the cemetery to make repairs, he said.

He wondered why anyone would want to desecrate graves.

The vandals may be teenagers with “anger issues” who may be intoxicated when they committed the crimes, he speculated.

Vandalizing graves is very insensitive considering the emotional toll it takes on the survivors of those buried in the cemetery, he said.

Besides the monuments that were knocked over, the vandals damaged American flags, veterans’ grave plaques, and various decorative items in the cemetery.

“It’s very sad, a very sad situation for all involved,” Mr Steinmetz said.

Slowly and carefully, the two men used a crane to hoist a statute of the Virgin Mary which someone had knocked over during the vandalism.

George Lockwood, Sr, a former town fire marshal, went to the graveyard on Sunday morning, as he does each morning, where ten of his relatives are buried.

“I went down there early Sunday morning,” he said, noting that his father’s grave is there. Monday would have been Mr Lockwood’s father’s birthday.

Mr Lockwood initially noticed that some gravestones had been toppled. As he looked about, he realized that quite a few gravestones had been knocked from their pedestals throughout the graveyard.

Police estimate that about 40 gravestones were vandalized.

Not having a cellphone on hand, Mr Lockwood drove to the nearby Sandy Hook Firehouse on Riverside Road where he placed a call to police at about 9:15 am, informing them of the extensive vandalism.

Mr Lockwood, who has lived near the cemetery his whole life, does not recall such an incident there previously.

He noted that neither his father’s grave, nor his other deceased family members’ graves, were damaged.

Mr Lockwood speculates that several people who had been traveling on foot probably entered the cemetery and vandalized it. The massiveness of some of the grave markers would require more than one person to topple them, he pointed out.

“Why somebody would do something like that to a cemetery, I just can’t understand,” he said.

“In this town, they don’t bother the cemeteries,” Mr Lockwood said of the lack of such incidents in the past.

‘Not Just Vandalism’

Monsignor Robert E. Weiss, the pastor of St Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, said this week that after learning from police what had occurred at the graveyard, he went there and made a list of the graves that had been damaged. At Mass later Sunday morning, he presented that list to parishioners.

The parishioners were upset at what had occurred, Msgr Weiss said. Some church members went to the graveyard to check on the damage.

The church cemetery, which lies about two miles from the Church Hill Road church, has not had such vandalism in the past, he said.

“It’s so upsetting … for such a lack of respect,” he said.

Some headstones will need to be reconnected to their bases, he said. The vandals broke some concrete urns that were positioned in the cemetery, he added. In one case, a vandal smashed a decorative pumpkin against a headstone.

A damaged statute of the Virgin Mary will need to repaired, Msgr Weiss said.  

The church is contacting some of the families affected by the desecration in view of the need to make repairs, Msgr Weiss said.

Damage at the site was in the “thousands of dollars,” he said.

“It’s a religious cemetery,” he noted. “We consider it sacrilegious. It’s desecration. It’s not just vandalism.

“To me it’s not just a matter of vandalism, it’s a lack of respect,” Msgr Weiss said. “This is not just a prank, not just vandalism. It’s just a total lack of respect,” he said.

Cemeteries are sacred places, he noted. “It’s unnerving. It’s very unnerving,” he added.

“Everybody’s just shocked when something like this happens,” Msgr Weiss said.

Msgr Weiss said that the incident is not cultish, not Satanic, and not antireligious in nature.

The pastor expressed thanks those people who contacted him after learning of the incident.

“A number of people called me immediately to ask me what they could do to help,” he noted.

Police Investigation

Police Officer Maryhelen McCarthy is investigating the incident for police. Sergeant Douglas Wisentaner is supervising the investigation.

What occurred at the graveyard amounts to one count of first-degree criminal mischief, which is a felony, as well as 40 individual counts of interference with a cemetery or burial ground, which also are felonies, said Sgt Wisentaner.

In a police report on the incident, Officer McCarthy wrote, “It was discovered that unknown persons damaged approximately 40 random headstones, stone planters, and statues.” Additionally, decorative pumpkins were smashed, and lawn ornaments plus flowers were pulled from the ground, she added.

Police collected evidence at the scene and sent that evidence to the state police’s forensic laboratory for scientific testing to aid in solving the crime, according to Officer McCarthy.

Sgt Wisentaner speculated that older teenagers likely vandalized the graveyard. The sergeant said that the extent and nature of the vandalism well exceeds what police typically encounter when investigating local cases of property damage.

What occurred at the graveyard definitely required the efforts of more than one person, he said, adding that several people likely were involved in the crime.

The vandals damaged objects in the graveyard “by hand” and likely spent at least several minutes in the cemetery while damaging it, he said.

“We will use all our resources to solve it,” said the sergeant, who agreed with others when he could not recall any such similar incident in local cemeteries.

What occurred at the graveyard is clearly more serious than vandalism that typically occurs in town, such as residential mailboxes being intentionally damaged, he said.

The damage was scattered in the cemetery, but most of the vandalism occurred in the section of the graveyard that was relatively nearer to its driveway entrance off Black Cherry Lane, he said.

Police interviewed people who live near the cemetery in seeking clues to solve the crime, he said.

Sgt Wisentaner urged that anyone with information about the identities of those who desecrated the graves to contact police at the police station at 426-5841, or at the police tip line at 270-8888. He suggested that parents speak to their children about the seriousness of what occurred at the graveyard.

Police Sergeant Christopher Vanghele said this week that police had received several tips about the cemetery vandalism, which they are pursuing.

“We’re going to be following up some leads,” he said.