It was an emotionally draining day at Woodlawn Celestial Gardens.
“This is crazy,” says owner Celestina Bishop.
Bishop is once again dealing with vandals targeting gravestones. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department arrived on the scene tonight to take stock of the situation.
“It doesn’t ease the pain, but I’m glad they showed up,” Bishop said.
Bishop said security cameras captured someone on the property last night. At one point the person appeared to be crouching over something. The next day, Bishop and her family found a pile of gravestones dug up from the ground and lying along the fence as if they had piled up the rubble to take with them.
“I wish they would leave us alone,” she said. “Please leave us alone.”
Bishop and her husband believe the suspect is the same one seen across the street at Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery last night.
Aisha Woods, a community volunteer, said a worker opened the doors this morning to inspect damage to the mausoleum and remove the plaques from their place.
“This is like opening a new wound over and over again because we don’t even know what caused it,” Woods said. “Why are you hitting our cemeteries?”
Unfortunately, Lincoln Memorial Park has faced this type of crime before.
Earlier this year, a thief stole more than 100 bronze nameplates from the cemetery. In neighboring Woodlawn, suspects vandalized dozens of headstones and also stole several plaques. They think the thieves will take the bronze and pawn it off to resellers or recyclers.
“I want people to be aware, especially the perpetrator; this could be your family,” Bishop said. “How would you feel if someone did this to your family, to your mother, to your sister, to your father?”
Despite having parts of families’ legacies ripped from their final resting places and the mess they have to clean up, Bishop and Woods say it only encourages them to fight through the pain and build their community.
“I’m more of a challenger,” Woods said. “This is the time where I keep fighting. For me, it’s not over yet.”
The hope is that someone will recognize the person in the security footage and call the police.
Woods and Bishop said that in the meantime, they will clean up the damage and contact the families of the damaged headstones and plaques.
“This has always been my mother’s house,” Bishop said. “One day it will be my home too. I will be buried here.”
