grave robbing

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Russia Swipes Potemkin's Remains From Ukraine

Bones of Prince Grigory Potemkin stolen from Kherson church for their own 'protection': official

(Newser) - Russia has held a grip on the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson and its capital of the same name since the earliest days of the war. Kherson is also one of the four regions that were illegally annexed by Russia earlier this month. But Ukrainian forces have been pushing hard...

Grave Diggers Find Empty Grave, Dead Chickens

Police are investigating in Connecticut

(Newser) - Grave diggers working at a Connecticut cemetery Wednesday noticed "a big pile of dirt," one says, and upon walking over to investigate, discovered an empty grave filled with water and what appeared to be two dead chickens. Police say it appears someone dug up and removed remains from...

Cops Find Man Trying to Get to Brother's Coffin

He was arrested after returning to the cemetery in Bremerton, Washington

(Newser) - By the time police arrived early Wednesday morning, a Washington man had managed to dig a hole two feet wide, two feet deep, and eight feet long. It wasn't deep enough to reach Hector Apodaca's coffin, which is what Bremerton police say the man was trying to do....

Where WWII Shipwrecks Once Sat, Now Nothing

Divers removing entire shipwrecks for their scrap metal: Guardian

(Newser) - The telling sign is a crane barge floating above. Once its divers inspect the shipwreck below, they lower explosives that rip it to shreds of steel, copper, and brass. This is how as many as 40 British, American, Australian, Dutch, and Japanese warships from World War II—which also serve...

Why Met Museum's Vase Is Sitting in an Evidence Room

The Met bought it at Sotheby's, but it may have been looted from a grave

(Newser) - For 2,300 years, the painted vase has shown a scene involving the god Dionysus. For just under 30 of those years, it's been in the possession of the Metropolitan Museum of Art—and for the last week or so, it's been stored in the evidence room of...

Nosferatu Director's Head Taken From Grave

German cops believe there may be link to occult

(Newser) - FW Murnau was one of the first—and best—horror movie directors and he is still at the center of creepy goings-on more than 80 years after his death. Police in Germany say the Nosferatu director's grave in a family plot near Berlin has been raided by people who...

Man Guilty of Raiding Grave in Search of 'Real Will'

Helped woman dig up her dad's coffin in New Hampshire

(Newser) - A man accused of helping a woman ransack her father's grave in search of his "real will" has pleaded guilty, and prosecutors in New Hampshire say that since he's so good at digging graves, he should have to help out at a cemetery as part of his...

11 Arrested After 'Corpse Bride' Is Dug Up

Chinese woman's body used for ancient 'ghost marriage' ritual

(Newser) - It sounds like a Tim Burton film, but the reality is much creepier: Chinese police have arrested 11 people in the country's east who are accused of playing a role in a "ghost marriage." In the ancient custom, a man who dies single is laid to rest...

Detroit Man Gets Probation After Stealing Dad's Body

He had hoped 93-year-old would return to life

(Newser) - A man who stole his father's body from a Detroit cemetery was placed on probation today and ordered to take mental health medication or face jail. Vincent Bright avoided a prison sentence under a deal with the Wayne County prosecutor's office. He pleaded guilty in August to disinterment...

Historian Lived With 26 Female Corpses

Grave-robbing Russian was writing a book about cemeteries

(Newser) - Somewhere along the way, Russian historian Anatoly Moskvin's interest in cemeteries went from academic to twisted. Police probing grave desecrations found the corpses of 26 women in the 45-year-old researcher's apartment, the Telegraph reports. The skeletal remains had been dressed up in new clothes. Moskvin was in the...

Thieves Demand Ransom for Cyprus President's Corpse

Body discovered dumped at another cemetery

(Newser) - The mystery behind the bodysnatching of Cyprus' former president seems to have been solved: The island nation's justice minister today ruled out a political motive, revealing that a ransom demand had been made. He said Tassos Papadopoulos' family had received a demand for ransom for the return of the body,...

Grave Robbers Steal Body of Cyprus Leader

Guard finds empty coffin, no clue on motive

(Newser) - Bizarre crime of the day: Grave robbers have stolen the corpse of the former president of Cyprus, Tassos Papadopoulos. A member of the president's guard found the open grave and empty coffin this morning. The body snatching came one day before a public memorial service on the one-year anniversary of...

Sleep With Marilyn: Wife Selling Hubby's Crypt Above Monroe

(Newser) - A former Beverly Hills resident is about to get a rude awakening when he's evicted from his crypt above Marilyn Monroe so his wife can sell it, reports the Los Angeles Times. Elsie Poncher says her hubby was a "helluva nice guy," but she needs the money to...

Activists Torch Drug CEO's Home, Steal Mom's Ashes

(Newser) - Animal rights militants have torched the home of the CEO of drug giant Novartis and stolen his mother's ashes from a Swiss cemetery, say company officials. Employees' cars have also been vandalized and attacked with crude explosive devices, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Babies' Graves Vanish From Ill. Cemetery

(Newser) - Police declared the whole of Burr Oak cemetery in the Chicago suburbs to be a crime scene last night, after hundreds of families reported empty or missing graves, including an entire section of the cemetery called Babyland, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Relatives will be barred from the site for about...

Emmett Till's Casket Found 'Rusted, Battered'

Locals search for loved ones' graves at desecrated cemetery

(Newser) - As Chicagoans mourned the desecration of a historic cemetery, the casket of civil rights icon Emmett Till was found rusted in a shack amid garbage and gravestones, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. “When we opened it up trying to find what we have, a family of possums ran out,”...

Cemetery Workers Dug Up Bodies, Resold Graves

Illinois cemetery employees excavated graves, dumped remains for cash

(Newser) - Four employees of a historic Chicago-area cemetery face charges after police uncovered a gruesome scheme to excavate graves, remove the human remains, and resell the plots, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. One manager and three grave diggers at Burr Oak Cemetery are charged with dismembering a human body, which carries of...

Chinese Killer Supplied Corpse Brides

"Weddings for the dead" making a comeback in rural areas

(Newser) - Chinese authorities have arrested a man said to have killed six women in order to sell their bodies to families seeking "ghost brides"  to marry their deceased sons. He and three other corpse traders are reputed to be members of an underground supply network prompted by  a growing...

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