As if the day wasn't sad enough for the families laying their loved ones to rest at St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale, their funeral processions were forced to navigate around a crime scene.
The body of a woman laid to rest 12 years ago, was stolen from her family's mausoleum sometime between 6:30 p.m. Monday and 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Her husband was also inside, but his body was not disturbed.
Investigators say the thieves climbed over the fence at night, pried open the metal gate of the mausoleum, removed the heavy marble slab that covered the crypt, took the casket out of the mausoleum, removed the body, and carried it over the fence and off the property.
Suffolk County Police are checking into surveillance video at the cemetery and nearby businesses for clues.
The Diocese of Brooklyn, which operates the cemetery, says the thieves tried to break in to a total of nine mausoleums.
They got into two others, before they took the corpse from the third.
In a written statement, Bishop Nicolas DiMarzio says, "It is incomprehensible that anyone would violate the sacred resting place of those that have passed from this world to eternal life."
