September 1989 - Coffin Taken from 88 year-old Warren County Grave

Mysterious: 88 Year-Old Coffin Taken from Plot
Lexington Herald-Leader ~ 9/12/1989

BOWLING GREEN -- The disappearance of a coffin containing the remains of a woman buried in a small family plot 88 years ago has stumped investigators, a sheriff's detective said yesterday.

Charles Forshee, a Warren County sheriff's detective, said the owner of some cattle that had gotten loose through a hole in the cemetery fence noticed the excavated grave Sunday afternoon.

"It was clean dug -- perfect," Forshee said. "Clean down the sides. They
went all the way to the bottom."

The hole in the fence apparently was made by whoever took the coffin, the detective said.

The grave was that of Easter Ann Stewart, who was born Aug. 18, 1825, and died Aug. 15, 1901, at age 75, Forshee said.

He said a rectangular hole 6 feet deep was neatly cut to remove the coffin, but the headstone and footstone were left intact. Four other well-marked, neatly kept graves in the plot were undisturbed, he said. The other graves belonged to members of the Stewart family who died about the same time as Easter Ann Stewart, he said.

The detective said the remains could have been missing for as long as a week to 10 days. Investigators for the sheriff's department were trying to determine who owned the secluded cemetery property.

"We think it's owned by out-of-state investors...There's some controversy over who owns what," Forshee said.

"It's very interesting, and it is a pretty serious crime, but we don't know" he said. "At this time, we are stumped and we just don't know what is going on. It's sad, isn't it?"

A state permit is required before a body may be disinterred and moved to another cemetery. The state Office of Vital Statistics has no record of an application to move the body, said a spokesman for the office in Frankfort.

Warren County Coroner Kevin Kirby and Barren River District Health Department Director Chuck Bunch said they knew of no request to move the contents of the grave to another cemetery.

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.