Last week a ceramic angel, wind chimes and LED lights were missing from the sites, Charles Conley said. He filed a report with Springfield Police.
“They’re hurting us,” his daughter Melody Kucharski said. “They’re hurting the ones that lost the loved ones.”
The family can’t believe someone would steal from a grave, she said.
“We can’t replace those,” Kucharski said of the stolen property. “Those were sent to the funeral home.”
She and her siblings surround the graves with flowers, she said, because it’s what her mother would have wanted.
“She just loved flowers,” Kucharski said.
The family suspects items might have been taken from other graves too, said Bonnie Crummie, Kucharski’s sister and the Conleys daughter.
Crummie wanted to, “let the other family members know what’s going on here so they can come out and check, too.”
Newcomers Cemetery is owned by the city of Springfield.
“We’ve had some incidents in the past,” Deputy City Manager Bryan Heck said. “But it’s been several years since we’ve had any incident reported to us.”
The city will look at what can be done to prevent future thefts, Heck said.
“We’re looking at several options in terms of securing the cemetery better,” he said. One of the options to be considered is locking the cemetery gates at night.
The Conley family just wants the items to be returned.
“Bring back the angel,” Crummie said. “That’s all we ask. Bring back the angel and the wind chimes.”
Anyone with information about the thefts should contact Springfield Police Division at 937-324-7685, Heck said.
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