FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WFFT) - Just weeks before Christmas someone stole more than 200 urns from graves inside Greenlawn Memorial Cemetery.
"Through the initial investigation and some follow up the next day, we found 248 gravesites had been vandalized and stolen from," Detective Joseph Lyon with the Fort Wayne Police Department said.
Detective Joseph Lyon said each urn is worth about $500 for a total value of $124,000.
He said it's heartbreaking because now the families will have to pay to replace them.
Greenlawn Cemetery officials are working to notify each family.
"They are heartbroken. It's the same kind of feeling I have.They are just mind boggled that somebody would do this," Lyon added.
Police suspect this was more than a one-person job.
"One to two people, maybe more. The theory at the moment is it's someone with a pickup truck and a buddy," Lyon explained.
Most of the urns were stolen from the back of the cemetery much like a similar theft five years ago.
That one happened at Covington Gardens which is also on Covington Road.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Fort Wayne Crime Stoppers at (260) 436-7867.
