‘They should be resting in peace’: Grave robbers nab over $100,000 in bronze vases from Maryland cemetery as similar thefts surge nationwide

In early July, detectives with the Charles County Sheriff’s Office arrested two suspects for the theft of 100 bronze vases worth more than $100,000 at Trinity Memorial Gardens in Waldorf, Maryland.

“Our detectives happened to be in that area and observed a van that they thought looked a little suspicious. They realized they had interrupted it in progress,” Diane Richardson, a sheriff’s office spokesperson, told WUSA9 news.

Neither Trinity Memorial Gardens nor the sheriff’s office replied to Moneywise’s request for comment, but one woman with a family member buried in the cemetery told reporters that, “It’s very emotional to know that someone would be stealing people’s belongings after they passed away. They should be resting in peace.”

Even worse, the Maryland cemetery robbery is far from an isolated incident, with similar thefts occurring all across the United States.

A booming bronze market is turning cemeteries into targets

The Wall Street Journal dubbed cemetery robberies across the U.S. “a nationwide desecration of the dead,” while Connecting Directors — a publication for funeral service professionals — warned that they’re “a growing epidemic” where “the true number of incidents that occur in private, public, rural, and urban cemeteries cannot be measured.”

But here’s what we do know: Just this week, the Fir Lawn Memorial Park and Funeral Home in Hillsboro, Oregon reported the theft of 80 bronze vases, about 10 pounds each, from graves. In June, thieves stole 40 vases from a Joelton, Tennessee cemetery too.

And the list of affected cemeteries within the last year alone goes on: 200 bronze vases in North Carolina; 800 in Omaha; 191 in Missouri; and 246 vases reportedly worth a whopping $171,000 in Indiana, to name a few.

The Woodlawn Celestial Gardens cemetery in Compton, California, reportedly saw 1,600 bronze or copper grave items stolen or broken in the last three years alone.

So, why bronze? Simple: thieves turn it into green by selling the vases to scrap metal dealers.

The global bronze market is expected to grow to more than $11 billion this year, according to research and consulting firm Fortune Business Insights, with an estimated value beyond $14 billion within the next decade.

The market “is experiencing steady expansion due to rising demand across construction, transportation, industrial machinery, marine engineering, and decorative applications,” they note, with aerospace, defense, industrial manufacturing and transportation fuelling U.S. growth.

So with bronze in high demand and selling for anywhere between $1 and $4 a pound across the U.S., it’s easy to see why so many thieves see treasure amongst the tombstones.

Connecting Directors, the Wall Street Journal and others noted that various states have passed laws in recent years in an attempt to curb the sale of bronze cemetery fixtures to scrap dealers — even making the dealers liable for accepting them.

And sentences for the thieves themselves can be steep, with NBC reporting that the accused in the Maryland cemetery case face various charges that could land them in prison for between five and 20 years.

But the pay is good and the risk is clearly low enough for thieves to continue taking the risk that they’ll be caught bronze-handed.

How to protect your family’s memorial — and your wallet

Bronze vases can cost anywhere from $185 to more than $1,000 depending on the size and style, according to Memorials.com, so families who suffer thefts naturally want to know who’s going to pay.

Generally, a cemetery’s insurance doesn’t cover private family property. It’s not uncommon for homeowners insurance to cover cemetery losses, usually up to around $5,000, but Loretta Worters of the Insurance Information Institute told Moneywise that any coverage depends on the individual homeowner policy.

“If coverage exists, it may be subject to sublimits or other restrictions,” she explained, adding that the homeowner still has to pay the deductible even if the theft is covered. “If replacing the vase costs less than or only slightly more than the deductible, filing a claim may not make financial sense.”