Family members react to Baytown cemetery plot theft, search continues for suspect
BAYTOWN, Texas - Authorities need your help identifying two suspects caught on video stealing vases from a cemetery plot in Baytown.
It happened at Earthman Memory Gardens, located on 8604 Garth Road.
BACKGROUND: Man, woman seen on surveillance cameras stealing vases from Baytown cemetery
Bill Gleason was one of many families who drove out to Earthman Memory Gardens Monday to check on his loved one's memorial.
"It’s despicable. It really is. People come to talk to their parents and their loved ones, and somebody would come here and do that," said Gleason.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office says a white man and woman in their mid to late 30s are seen on surveillance around 10 p.m. May 25, cutting the lock off the gate, then entering the cemetery grounds. Investigators said the two then stole 50 to 60 metal vases, meant for holding flowers, before driving off.
"It’s wrong. It’s just wrong on a thousand different levels to come in and take something that’s a memorial for somebody that’s passed. I’m really hoping to catch them, that’s not okay," said Jan Harris.
Jan rushed over to check on her grandparents and mother, who are all buried on the property. She said the vases are typically secured into the gravestones with a chain and can sometimes cost up to a few thousand dollars.
Harris says the precious vases are often chosen specially for their loved ones, becoming invaluable and irreplaceable.
"My stepmother was in tears just because she could not understand. She looked at me and said, that has to be the lowest thing that anybody could do."
"They call it like perpetual care and eternal rest. And it always looks so beautiful and cared for, and these poor people in their grief, they come into bury somebody, knowing that even, this is vulnerable. You’re vulnerable even in death," Harris continued.
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HCSO says the suspects were driving a light-colored 2015 Chevy 2500 pickup truck.
Anyone with information should contact HCSO Burglary and Theft at (713) 274-9200.