A vandal has hit graves in Freetown for a third time. Police want answers.

Jeffrey D. Wagner
·2 min read
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FREETOWN — For the third time this year, a cemetery in town has been vandalized, according to officials.

This past week, the Assonet Burying Ground had several headstones spray painted with disturbing messages. The two previous incidents happened at the White Cemetery.

Cemetery Commission Chairman Michael McCue took photos of the vandalized stones. Some messages taunt officials with statements such as “ha” or “try handwriting analysis.”

Other messages were more severe such as “stop me before I kill” and “have sex with a corpse.”

“I can confirm that this matter is under investigation. We have communicated with the cemetery commission and requested information for each of the stones vandalized," Police Chief Carlton Abbott said. “The (cemetery) commission is expected to coordinate cleanup measures.”

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Freetown Police Department posted this image of the vandalism that occurred at the White Cemetery in Freetown in May. Now a vandal has hit the graves at the Assonet Burying Ground in Freetown.
Freetown Police Department posted this image of the vandalism that occurred at the White Cemetery in Freetown in May. Now a vandal has hit the graves at the Assonet Burying Ground in Freetown.

“We are confident that the latest incident is connected to the previous incidents at the White Cemetery.”

The Cemetery Commission oversees the Assonet Burying Ground while the Chace, Rounsevell, and White cemeteries in East Freetown are all private cemeteries operated by independent associations, according to the town's website.

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McCue said that the Cemetery Commission will be meeting to discuss the next steps in response to this latest incident.

McCue said several older stones have been vandalized, including ones that commissioners cleaned and restored. McCue said newer ones were also vandalized.

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McCue said that some stones were vandalized in the veteran section of the burying ground.

“These people need to be caught,” McCue said.

Earlier this year the White Cemetery was targeted. Around that same time, state and local officials also investigated Molotov cocktails — or homemade explosives — being set off around Profile Rock, which is part of the Freetown-Fall River State Forest.

The White Cemetery was targeted again in the spring. In a posting on May 6, the police said investigating officers identified 34 headstones and memorial markers that were defaced with red spray paint.

Abbott said that police are not releasing any suspect information because it involves an active investigation.

People with information about this or other previous incidents are encouraged to contact Detective Shane Kelley at 508-763-4017.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Freetown police want information about grave vandalism