St. Joseph Church Cemetery vandalized - Dubois County Free Press, Inc.

The first fallen marker — The first stone that was noticed by Pat Gehlhausen the groundskeeper.

Jasper Police Department is investigating several acts of vandalism that occurred at St. Joseph Church Cemetery.

According to Pat Gehlhausen, St. Joseph groundskeeper, he noticed a large tombstone had fallen over near the entrance to the cemetery last week. The stone had been leaning for some time and he thought it had fallen over on accident, however on Nov. 9 Gehlhausen noticed that many more tombstones had been toppled and damaged. He contacted the Jasper PD.

[quote style=”boxed”]I don’t know why someone would do something so reprehensible/ Pat Gehlhausen[/quote]

Jasper PD Detective Lisa Miller stated that they had collected certain items found around the cemetery and would be checking them for fingerprints and also DNA.

Early this morning, Gehlhausen noticed that another tombstone with a crucifix mounted on the top was burnt. He reported this to Jasper PD as well.

Burnt Crucifix — The burnt Crucifix at St. Joseph's Church Cemetery

Many of the damaged tombstones are so old the actual inscriptions are illegible. Detective Miller stated, “It is disturbing to have this type of vandalism occur in a cemetery let alone this historic cemetery.

The stones that were toppled or damaged are random and at this time Detective Miller doesn’t know if the acts are ritualistic in nature or random acts of vandalism.

Anyone with information is requested to contact Jasper City Police at 482-2255 or the anonymous tipline 481-COPS.