Memorial vases stolen from N.S. cemetery

Police in Pictou County are investigating the thefts of nearly 50 memorial vases from a Westville cemetery, the vases have since been recovered.  

 “We originally thought there was approximately 20 of the vases taken. There was actually 48 recovered,” said Cpl. Natasha Farrell with the Pictou District RCMP in Stellarton.

Farrell said the theft was initially reported by a maintenance repair worker Tuesday morning and the next day, someone turned the vases into to police in Westville.

“We do not believe that the person who brought them to Westville Police Service is involved in anyway,” said Farrell.  “Rather they’re a third party that came across the items, knew that they had fallen into the wrong hands and just wanted to do the right thing.”

Farrell said the value of each vase is about $300 and each vase could be sold for scrap for a fraction of that, although she was unsure how much they could go for. The total amount of what was recovered is valued at more than $14,000.

CTV News asked Farrell if the items were sold for scrap.

“As far as we are right now in our investigation we have no evidence to support they had been sold,” said Farrell.

On Thursday, several family members went to the Heatherdale Memorial Gardens to see if their loved ones’ vases were taken.  Lori Currie parents’ vase was gone.

“Absolutely disgusting. Yes there’s hard times but there’s lots of places to go to. There’s lots of people looking for work. There’s lots of work around here. Why steal?,” Currie said.

Others like Susan Watters and Dorothy Rogers have several of their family’s headstones in the cemetery.

“I just think it’s really sick that someone could steal from graveyards,” said Watters.

“It’s a heartbreaker. It really is. To think you cannot even rest in peace,” said Rogers.

Farrell said the police have noticed other items containing metal such as catalytic converters are being stolen as well.

“We are noticing a lot of metal is being stolen in the county and this just seems to be the latest item,” Farrell said.

The Heatherdale Memorial Gardens is run by the province of Nova Scotia. Spokesperson Blaise Theriault said the vases will be returned to their proper grave sites in the coming days.

“This is the first time this has happened at Heatherdale Cemetery,” said Theriault.

“Increased security measures will be implemented to help ensure something like this doesn’t happen again.”