They stole 9 headstones from a Caseyville cemetery. Was it part of a ritual?

Nine gravestones have gone missing from Caseyville Cemetery in the past couple of days, Caseyville police said Wednesday.

All of the headstones are made of old, sandstone material and do not have much monetary value, Caseyville Police Chief Thomas Coppotelli said.

“I honestly don’t know why someone would take them, it’s a pretty low thing to do,” Coppotelli said. “They might have been taken for some kind of rituals or initiations.”

Coppotelli said burnt candles also were found in the cemetery, although they might not be related to the headstone thefts.

Bob Stephens, treasurer of the cemetery association in Casevyille, said they don’t know why the stones were taken, but it wouldn’t be the first time Caseyville Cemetery has been the site of strange happenings.

Eight years ago, Stephens said, a group of supposed devil-worshipers came to the cemetery, turning crucifixes and other religious symbols upside down and attacking a marble angel statue with an ax.

Even during that incident, however, no stones were taken. In his 40 years with the cemetery association, Stephens said this is the first time that has happened.

All the stolen stones were 100 or more years old from the late 1800s, some of which didn’t have readable names on them. Made of soft sandstone, the brittle gravestones were probably snapped off by thieves, Stephens said.

Stephens said the incident may have something to do with Monday’s solar eclipse, but there was no way of knowing for sure.

“I’ve been reading a lot of books about the eclipse, and a lot of different cultures saw it as a mysterious, religious symbol or something,” Stephens said. “Older cultures had all kinds of rituals or ceremonies with the eclipse, although I don’t know a modern religion that would do that.”

Coppotelli said there is no evidence to suggest the thefts were eclipse-related.

“For all we know, these people just wanted to decorate their houses or something,” he said. “It’s just a strange thing.”

The cemetery’s groundskeepers were the first to notice the missing stones Monday and notified the cemetery association right away, Stephens said.

Coppotelli said it’s difficult to tell when the stones were stolen, and the thefts may have occurred in the past couple days or last week.

Caseyville Cemetery is secluded on top of a large hill on an out-of-the-way road, making it an easy target for theft. Two signs stand at the entrance to the cemetery, one saying the cemetery is closed at night and the other informing patrons that vandalism at a cemetery is a felony.

“They would have been warned coming in, and they knew,” Stephens said. “They committed a felony.”

Coppotelli said they have increased police patrols of the area and are discussing the installation of a gate that would be locked at night.

“It’s disturbing, and I know if it was one of my relatives, I would be very upset,” Coppotelli said.

The cemetery managers were putting together a list of whose gravestones were stolen, Stephens said, although many of the stones are so old that there may not be any living descendents.

“People are just evil today,” Stephens said. “I’ve been with the cemetery 40 years or more. It’s a sacred place and it shouldn’t be tampered with.”

This story was originally published August 23, 2017 at 1:33 PM with the headline "They stole 9 headstones from a Caseyville cemetery. Was it part of a ritual?."