Hundreds of vases stolen off graves in McHenry County Memorial Park cemetery

Eric Horng Image
Saturday, September 14, 2024
Hundreds of vases stolen off graves in north suburban cemetery
Hundreds of vases have been stolen from the McHenry County Memorial Park cemetery in Woodstock, including from the veterans section.

WOODSTOCK, Ill. (WLS) -- Hundreds of vases have been stolen off graves in a north suburban cemetery.

"It's upsetting, it's disgraceful," said Michelle Tucsek, whose parents' graves were damaged. "My gosh, may God punish you for doing that, you know. It's just, it's awful."

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Tucsek said the bronze vase that adorned her parents' headstone is one of many that have been stolen at the McHenry County Memorial Park cemetery in Woodstock.

Video she took last weekend shows marker after marker with vases missing, including in the cemetery's veterans section. Tucsek's father fought in World War II.

"It's a hundred, two hundred vases, if not more," Tucsek said. "I found four or five just thrown on the ground. I don't know if they had too many in their hand and dropping them."

Some families have lost more than one; three were taken from Susan Nell's family, including the vase for her late husband David.

"The grief that you get all over again from the loss, you know, and that somebody could... have not enough human feelings to understand what they were doing when they stole those vases," Nell said.

It's unclear how or when the thefts occurred. Tucsek said she was informed of the thefts not by the cemetery, but by social media.

"What about people that are out of state? You know, they're out of state. How are they supposed to know this has happened?" she said.

The McHenry County Sheriff's Office did not respond to messages left by ABC7.