Twentynine Palms Cemetery vandalized

The normally calm and quiet Twentynine Palms Cemetery turned upside down this past weekend.

“Somebody had gone through and picked up items placed atop the sites by family members that weren’t secured, and just smashed them on the sidewalks,” Stacey Lee, the Twentynine Palms secretary, said.

The damage affected about 30 grave sites.

“Just broken ceramic objects, flower urns tipped over,” Lee said.

The ungated cemetary suffered about $200 worth of damages. The graveyard has seen this type of disrespect before in an even worse way.

“About five years ago, there was similar vandalism here that affected many more sites but the same types of thing where they removed non-attached items and destroyed them. The suspects were eventually caught and convicted,” Lee said.

Neighbors have seen this twice now.

“It’s kind of scary living across the street and that happening,” neighbor Tena Simmering said. “There are a whole bunch of kids up here that, I don’t know. I walk up there every day, it’s horrible. I have a family member that is buried up there.”

“I just can’t understand how somebody can come through and do this. I don’t know what possesses somebody to disrespect people on such a huge level,” Simmering said.

Police currently have no leads.

The cemetery staff urges people who have loved ones buried there to check if their grave sites were affected, to help with the investigation.