June 1999 - Fetus Taken & Grave Disturbed at KY-WV Family Cemetery

Fetus taken when graves disturbed near Inez
Greg Kocher ~ Lexington Herald-Leader ~ 6/18/1998

Martin County police are investigating the apparent removal of a fetus from one grave and the disturbance of another plot in a family cemetery on the Kentucky -West Virginia border.

"It's sick," said Martin County Sheriff Darriel Young. "I don't know why anybody would want to do something like that."

Young said the grave of "Baby Evans," a 41/2-month-old fetus who was miscarried in March, was dug up in the Dempsey family cemetery in Warfield, a small community about 10 miles east of Inez.

The parents, Jerry and Margaret Evans of Lovely, had placed the fetus in a shoebox and buried it about 18 inches in the ground, Young said.

They could not be reached yesterday.

A visitor to the cemetery discovered June 28 that the grave had been dug up.

"It's empty. The dirt is out of it and everything," Young said.

In addition, earth on the grave of Carl Fitzpatrick, who died during surgery at age 19 in 1941, appears to have been dug up and then replaced, Young said.

It is not known whether Fitzpatrick's remains are intact.

"I'd say it's just a bunch of kids doing a prank, but you can never be too sure about these things until you do a full investigation," said Martin County Coroner Rex Endicott.

Young said no arrests have been made, but his office is treating the incident as a criminal investigation. Fitzpatrick's family wants to exhume his body and move it to a Martin County location where they can keep a closer eye on the plot, said Anna Francis Perry, 74, one of four surviving sisters.

"I tell you, I can't put it into words," Perry said, her voice breaking. "It's a hard thing to deal with."

Bill Phelps of Phelps Funeral Home in Inez said he has sought permits from the state Department of Vital Statistics that would allow him to disinter, transport and re-inter Fitzpatrick's remains in the new location next week.

Some Martin Countians wonder whether the occult is involved. Young said a discarded couch in the cemetery was spray-painted with a pentagram, a five-pointed satanic symbol. In addition, the phrases "Turn your back on God" and "Anton lives" - an apparent reference to Church of Satan founder Anton Szandor LeVay, who died last year - were spray-painted on the couch.

Rick Roberts, a Paintsville paralegal who monitors occult activity, said a different grave near Warfield was robbed in 1992. Several of those buried in that cemetery were Hungarian miners who had come to work in the Kentucky coalfields, Roberts said. Phelps said the Dempsey cemetery has about 120 graves, some a century old.

He couldn't say what the motive for grave robbery would be.

"Who would know?" Phelps said. "How could you get into somebody's mind?"

February 1988 - Grave Robbing at Indian Burial Ground Prompts Stiffer Penalties

Senate OK's Bill boosting penalty for grave looting - Excavation of Indian Burial Ground in Union prompted legislative action
Lexington Herald Leader ~ 2/12/1988

FRANKFORT -- A bill that would make it a felony for artifact hunters to dig up graves was passed yesterday by the Kentucky Senate.

The measure was prompted by the alleged looting of an Indian burial ground in Union County

The vote was 34-0 on Senate Bill 178, which would split the crime of desecration of venerated objects -- now a Class A misdemeanor -- into first- and second-degree offenses.

Intentional excavation or disinterment of human remains "for the purpose of commercial sale or exploitation" would be a first-degree offense, punishable by one to five years in prison.

More common acts, such as vandalism of tombstones, would remain a misdemeanor as a second-degree offense, punishable by up to one year in jail.

One reason for making grave-robbing a felony is that offenders cannot be extradited for a misdemeanor, said the bill's sponsor, Democrat John Hall of Henderson.

Ten people, including four from Indiana and Illinois, were indicted in connection with the alleged desecration of a 40-acre Indian burial site in Union County. About 450 holes and the remains of more than 1,000 bodies were discovered at the site in December.

Hall said there were "bones scattered all over the 40-acre burial site." Indians from across the nation plan a mass reburial around Memorial Day.

Boone County Church Moves Graves 80 Feet

Church, descendants battle over moved graves
Stephanie Steitzer ~ The Kentucky Post (Covington) ~ 9/29/2004

The South Fork Christian Church in Verona last year disinterred 12 graves on its property and reburied them about 80 feet away.

A few descendents of those who were moved are not happy about it.

Deborah Kaye, of Georgia, told the Boone County Fiscal Court Tuesday night that the remains of her great-great-great grandmother, Mary McAndless, were placed in a mass grave with the others that were dug up to make way for the construction of a new church.

She also accuses the church of not locating the remains of McAndless' stillborn infant and of not properly notifying descendents before the disinterment.

"I think it's un-Christian," she said. "They have violated my roots."

Boone County Judge-Executive Gary Moore said he would try to help Kaye get information from the state Office of Vital Statistics, which approved the relocation, and would talk to those who are interested about forming a cemetery preservation task force.

Boone County Attorney J.R. Schrand said he also is attempting to get information from the state.

South Fork Christian Church minister Bob Hightchew said the remains were disinterred according to state and county guidelines and that Kaye and others are really just upset that the old church was demolished.

Hightchew said the remains were placed in individual waterproof containers and then put into a heavy-duty plywood box.

"The term mass grave, I think because it carries such a bad message with it, is why it's being used," he said.

Kentucky Administrative Regulation 5:090, which deals with the burial and disinterment of dead bodies, states that human remains intended for reburial shall be enclosed in a container constructed of strong material and of sufficient size.

Boone County Coroner Doug Stith, who along with the state Office of Vital Records, signed the removal permits, said the statute is vague and doesn't specify whether the containers must be placed in individual graves.

"What was done was very respectful," he said. "This excavation, disinterment and reburial was excellently done."

Hightchew also said the church was not required to notify Kaye or other descendents because it was not moving the graves to another cemetery. He said descendents could see the new location from the former burial site because it is so close.

But Jan Garbett, who is president of a non-profit county cemetery preservation group, argues in a letter to the county that the new burial site was not a previously designated cemetery.

"Therefore, the graves were not actually moved from one part of the cemetery to another part of the same cemetery -- " she said.

As for the missing stillborn child of Kaye's great-great-great grandmother, Hightchew said the county has no records of the child or several others that are believed to be buried near the church.

Stith also said no remains of a child buried 120 years ago would even exist. In fact, he said only one person's bones were recovered. The other remains consisted of discolored clay.

Hightchew said it is unfortunate that the 100-year-old church had to be demolished, but it was in disrepair and was not big enough to handle the church's growing congregation.

He also said it was unfortunate that the graves had to be relocated.

"They were removed with honor and dignity," he said.

"They were reinterred with prayer."