Cemetery Crimes "Despicable"; Police and Cemetery Staff are Working to Return Vases to Families

For several months, many family members of those buried in Mt. Emblem and Elm Lawn cemeteries have been dealing with the heartache and frustration of bronze vases being stolen from their loved ones' headstones.

Now that an arrest has been made in the case, and more than $100,000 worth of bronze vases has been recovered, those families have an opportunity to get a vase back. But chances are, the vase they receive will not be the exact one they purchased.

"It's virtually impossible" for them to get their original vase back, said John Isaacson, general manager of Mt. Emblem Cemetery.

"We're going to work with them to see what we can do to help," Isaacson said.

Hundreds of vases are being held in bins at the Elmhurst Police Station, police Det. Ed Coughlin said.

"We have 350 of them here," Coughlin said. "In the next week or two, we are going to have a date where whoever has had one stolen can come by and claim one. They're not marked, so we don't know whose are whose."

Isaacson said the cemetery has been working with Elmhurst police since they became aware of the thefts three or four months ago. 

Cemetery staff members have on file the types of vases purchased by families.

"It would be a matter of us looking up in the records to see what we have documented when they purchased them," Isaacson said, adding that they are waiting to see how the police want to handle it. He said it is possible that a cemetery employee might go to the station with a family member to help them recover the right type of vase.

Since the thefts began, Isaacson said his staff has been discouraging people from purchasing bronze vases. There is no way to affix the vases to the headstones to prevent them from being stolen, because they must be "turned down" in the winter to prevent damage, he said.

"It just adds to the misery if you keep putting bronze out there and they keep taking it," he said. "They pay several hundred dollars for them."

He said he's not even sure exactly how many vases were taken from Mt. Emblem. The Elmhurst police aren't sure either.

"They'd go out there and find three or four missing one day, five the next day … We basically want to give them back to as many people as we can," Coughlin said.

Isaacson said any crime committed in a cemetery is particularly offensive.

"It saddens us, of course, that anybody would prey on cemeteries or grave sites," he said. "Theft of any kind is unacceptable, but these on cemetery property are despicable, to be honest with you."

Isaacson and Coughlin have talked to several family members who are pleased with the work done by Elmhurst police that led to the arrest of Jeffrey T. Burke of Hometown.

"One person had called and her father was devastated, just overwhelmed that someone would steal (a vase) like that," Coughlin said. "They are very happy we got them back."

Burke is being held in DuPage County Jail on a $60,000 bond.

Anyone who has had a vase stolen from Mt. Emblem, 520 E. Grand Ave., can call (630) 834-6080 to identify the type of vase purchased. Those with family members buried at Elm Lawn, 401 E. Lake St., can call (630) 833-9696. Victims also can contact Det. Coughlin at (630) 530-3077.

"If you've had one taken, we'll take your name and number and you can grab a vase out of one of the bins," Coughlin said. "We just don't want the scrap yard to profit off of this."