BEDFORD, Va. – It wasn’t graveyard ghosts that vandalized a Bedford cemetery last October.
About 40 headstones in Longwood cemetery were toppled, with damage to a garage and truck as well.
Two men, Michael Todd Shelor II and Donnie Ray Evans, are facing three felonies for the destruction of property.
“It’s something the community has really been harping on,” Michael Smith, Cemetery Supervisor for the Town of Bedford said. “I mean you would not believe the number of people that have come by and asked me daily, weekly, or whatever have we heard anything.”
[Two charged in connection with vandalism at Longwood Cemetery in Bedford]
The gravestones date back to the 1800s. Smith was among the first to discover them that morning.
“We were like, ‘Oh lord,’ and the further we walked and looked it went from a few to a lot,” Smith said.
Lieutenant Stephen Swain said community tips played a big role in the arrests.
“It’s important to us and we knew it was important to the community,” Swain said. “We put just as many hours into this as we would have for any other serious offense, and so it’s been weeks in the making at this point.”
The case is ongoing but Swain didn’t say whether or not they think anyone else could be involved.
Over at the cemetery, around 25 headstones have been repaired so far, and security cameras have been installed, so something like this doesn’t happen again.
“This is where somebody’s buried,” Smith said. “This is a marker too for people to come and reminisce about their loved ones or whatever. So, why people want to destroy those is beyond me.”'