ETNA, Maine — Angie Godin never expected to see the top of her sister’s grave again.
Sometime between Thursday night and Friday morning, vandals came to Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Etna and dug up her family plot, exposing one of the cement vault boxes containing the casket and leaving pry marks on the top.
The town sexton found the grave dug up early Friday morning and called Godin. When she came to the cemetery, it was a shock.
“I told my husband, I never thought I’d see the top of that again,” Godin said. “You think once you put them there, it’s good.”
Penobscot County Chief Deputy Sheriff William Sheehan said Sunday that in 20 years of police work, he’s never seen a grave desecration.
“Obviously this is very upsetting for the family, as it should be, so we are taking it very seriously and investigating every lead that we come across,” Sheehan said.
The investigation so far has developed several leads, Sheehan said. Sgt. Roy Peary, who is investigating the case, was off-duty on Sunday and could not be reached for comment.
The plot that was dug up had space for four graves. Three of Godin’s family members were buried there: her father, who died in 1994; her sister, who died in 2003; and her mother, who died in 2007. Godin believes it was her sister’s vault that was exposed and the vandals attempted to open.
The other two vaults were partially dug up, according to Godin.
Her son, Jason Godin, put a picture of the vandalism on Facebook on Friday afternoon. By Sunday afternoon it had been shared 3,071 times.
“I can’t imagine someone being so sick,” she said. “They’re supposed to be resting in peace, and that’s not what happened.”
State law has at least two criminal statutes that might apply to this crime. Desecration of a public monument or any private place of worship or burial is a Class D crime that carries a punishment of up to a year imprisonment and as much as a $2,000 fine. The law defines desecration as “marring, defacing, damaging or otherwise physically mistreating” a burial ground “in a way that will outrage the sensibilities of an ordinary person likely to observe or discover the actions.”
Another Class D offense, interference with a cemetery or burial ground, is defined as intentionally destroying, mutilating, defacing or removing any tomb, monument, gravestone, marker or other structure placed or designed as a memorial for the dead.
Anyone with information about the crime is encouraged to call the sheriff’s department at 945-4636.
BDN writer Nick Sambides Jr. contributed to this report.