Cemetery Security Is Increased After Body Is Stolen

The bizarre theft of a woman’s body from a mausoleum in Westminster this week has baffled police and stunned people in the funeral industry.

Mike Ross, general manager of Westminster Memorial Park Cemetery Mortuary and Florist, said he ordered increased security patrols after what he called a heinous crime by “a sick individual or individuals.”

“I did talk to the family, and they’re cooperating with police with the hope that we can put an end to this,” Ross said. “Of course, they are as shocked and saddened as we are.”

Duane E. Harvey, president of the 1,600-member National Funeral Directors and Morticians Assn. in Atlanta, said that in his 28 years of experience he has never heard of anyone taking a body.

Harvey said the Westminster case was also unusual in that security measures had been taken. The cemetery was fenced with a combination of chain-link, wrought iron and brick. Most graves that are desecrated, Harvey said, are unfenced.

The ax apparently used to knock through the mausoleum’s thick wall of marble and concrete was recovered by Westminster police when they were called to the scene Wednesday morning.

Police said the vault was crudely broken into and the casket pulled out--a feat that could have required more than one person. The casket was left open and leaning against a mausoleum wall at a 45-degree angle, police said.

The body of the 85-year-old woman who died in 1991 had no jewelry, and there were no valuables inside the casket. Her identity was not released at her family’s request.

“We don’t know the motive here,” said Westminster Police Sgt. David McDowell. “Could it be a prank? Or a cultic crime? It’s just bizarre.”

Police believe the body was dragged about 40 feet over a grassy area, across a cemetery roadway and then perhaps placed in a bag and carried off the cemetery grounds.

Bloodhounds found a trail across the cemetery, through an open spot in the fence and down into a concrete canal.