Archive for the 'Desecration' Category

Young Mother’s Remains Stolen from Grave

May 8th, 2011

It was a Tuesday, the 15th, a day like any other in the middle of June in the year 2010 when a phone call shattered a family’s life.

That call was to the Clark family and their world crumbled to learn that their beautiful daughter had taken her own life.  Tori Lynn Clark – only 33 years of age and a young mother – had chosen to end her personal suffering that summer day in Graniteville, VT.   Ironically, she worked as a mental health professional but, in the end, Tori was unable to save herself from her own mental problems; which her mother says she suffered with for years.  Sadly, suicide is a high risk and common end result for people with mental illness issues.

Her parents, Michael and Patty Clark, chose to have her remains cremated and a graveside service was held for her on June 21, 2010 at Maple Hill Cemetery.  Her former fiancé, Gene Sargeant, whom she had broken up with a month prior to her death, and who was the father of her young son, Tyler (age 11), attended the services.  After the service he was given some of her ashes.

States mother Patty Clark, “I guess that wasn’t enough.”

The Clarks ordered a headstone for their daughter’s grave, choosing to have dolphins – which Tori loved – carved into the granite on either side of her name.  They visited the gravesite often to pray with Tori and did their best to pick up the pieces of their life and move on.

It was in September that their world was turned upside down once more.  Father Michael Clark received a strange, anonymous email telling him that “something was wrong” with his daughter’s grave.  The email suggested that the family should have Tori’s grave dug up so they could see for themselves.

Concerned and horrified, the Clarks contacted State Police.  The gravesite was exhumed and police returned to the Clark residence to notify them that their daughter’s remains had been stolen.

“She was taken from us twice; by death, and by being dug up and taken again,” Patty Clark told local news stations that picked up the story.

On September 2, 2010, Vermont State Police began their investigation and on April 20, 2011, they picked up Tori’s 30 year-old former fiancé, Gene Sargeant, and a friend, David Mares, and charged them with desecrating her grave, officially “unauthorized removal of human remains”.  The charge, in the state of Vermont, is a felony and “carries a penalty of imprisonment of not more than 15 years or a fine of not more than $10,000 or both” (more info here).

A few weeks later, on the 28th, two more people were arrested in connection with the crime:  22 year-old Rosalee Moodie and 32 year-old Melissa Estivil were brought in as accessories to the original crime.

No word yet on why Gene Sargeant felt the need to dig up the remains of the mother of his child and ex-fianceé or why he employed the help of the other three people.  The sender of the anonymous email to the Clark family also remains a mystery.

Sadly, Tori’s ashes have yet to be recovered.

Crossposted at Tumblr...

 

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Ascension Parish Military Markers Sold for Scrap

March 21st, 2008

When I created the "Desecration" category for this blog, it was my honest hope I'd have no cause to use it - and that, even if I did, it would not be very often.

Despite my hopes, however, I am here again to tell you of the saddening defilement that has taken place, once more, in my native state of Louisiana.

Suspect Gary Glover is now behind bars for sneaking into cemeteries in Ascension Parish - mostly on the East Bank - and stealing the traditional, brass markers that mark the graves of our brave countrymen and women that have served us in our United States military. He would, then, turn around and sell the markers at local scrapyards. Now, a number of those scrapyard owners are, also, in jail for not keeping accurate records.

Desecrating or stealing from someone's final resting place is quite possibly the lowest of the low - to do so to those that served our country in times of war and fought for our freedom goes beyond the pale. What then won't such a person stoop to?

As the commenter in the article on WAFB about this atrocity reflected, "Nothing is sacred anymore."

WAFB has provided a list of names of soldiers they know whose markers have been taken - some are not, and may never be, recovered. Please review the names at the "Cemetery Threats" article.  You are urged to contact the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office (225-621-8375) if you recognize any of these unfortunate soul's names.

Vandalism at Greenoaks Memorial Park

January 30th, 2008

The statue you see here is gone, along with the remains of two people in an act on vandalism that has shocked and troubled residents of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

On the morning of Wednesday, January 23, cemetery workers at Greenoaks Memorial Park found a number of graves vandalized - spray painted with vulgarities and some with raw meat smeared across them.

In addition, the large Jesus statue in the Lakeside Chapel mausoleum had been defaced - the hands and nose brutally chopped off.

A couple of days later, to everyone's horror, cemetery personnel realized that the glass had been broken in one of Lakeside Chapel's columbariums (a final resting place for urns carrying cremated remains) and the remains of two people - one an elderly woman, Gertrude Gram Ineson, who died in 1985 - had been stolen. One can only imagine the pain the families of the missing deceased are feeling right now.

Another family going through additional pain is that of Amber Pike Foreman - a thirty year-old woman who was killed by a drunk driver in January 2007. Her final resting place, which was defaced with spray paint and raw meat on the 23rd, has been vandalized for the third time.

Law enforcement officials claim other Baton Rouge cemeteries, including Roselawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum on North Street, and Liberal Synagogue Cemetery, also on Florida Boulevard, have been vandalized in a similar fashion in the last few months. Graves are defaced and items are destroyed or stolen. This is the first case, it appears, that actual remains have been taken, though.

One has to wonder what kind of a person would do such a thing...to deface and defile an innocent person's final resting place, to put a grieving family through even more pain and horror, to have such careless and cold-hearted indifference to your fellow man.

I, and everyone else here, can only hope the culprits are caught and brought to justice before they can do anymore harm.