Fitchburg, Mass. Grave digger 'used bones for an ashtray'

[Ian David]

June 22, 2007 - 2:09PM


US police say a grave digger stole body parts - including a skull and a thigh bone - from a broken casket at a church cemetery and took them home to make an ashtray.

"While he was digging a grave, a casket was broken open, so (investigators) believe he took the body parts to make an ashtray and a pipe," Police Lieutenant Kevin O'Brien told the Sentinel & Enterprise of Fitchburg, Massachusetts.

Police discovered the theft when they went to his apartment on Wednesday after his wife complained that her husband, Keith Chartrand, killed her dog.

She said she found the body parts among his belongings.

<snip>

The Reverend Edward Chalmers of St Bernard's Cemetery said he believed the remains probably were taken from an older part of the cemetery where many graves did not have vaults.

More:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Grave-digger-used-bones-for-an-ashtray/2007/06/22/1182019336727.html

See prior threads:

New Allegations of Improper Burials and Grave Robbing by The Archdiocese of Boston
Topic started by IanDB1 on Mar-04-07 07:15 AM (0 replies)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=334640

Graveyard Crimes: Boston Archdiocese covered-up allegations of grave robbing and desecration
Topic started by IanDB1 on Feb-27-07 07:56 AM (0 replies)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=214&topic_id=114193




See also:



Shame on Archdiocese
May 11, 2007 | 7:25 PM
Category: News
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The evidence appears to be overwhelming. Former gravedigger Tom Keigney said desecrations happened at Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden. His most disturbing allegation: That Delia Keavy was removed from her casket and thrown into the mud to make room for her husband’s casket.

Today, the Keavy grave was exhumed and the evidence supports Keigney’s story. Mr. Keavy’s casket and liner were intact. But not Mrs. Keavy’s. In the watery grave, there were pieces of the liner and twisted metal from the casket, along with the remains of Mrs. Keavy.

The explanation from the Archdiocese of Boston: The casket’s condition is the result of “…the passage of time and the effect of natural elements.”

Give me a break. So why was Mr. Keavy’s casket and liner in perfect condition? Yes, he was buried a few years after Mrs. Keavy, but that explanation doesn’t pass the smell test.

I guess we shouldn’t be surprised. The Archdiocese of Boston doesn’t have a lot of credibility and for a long time it insisted pedophile priests were not an issue. The public knew better then and knows better now, too.

Mike
http://community.myfoxboston.com/blogs/Mike_Beaudet/2007/05/11/Shame_on_Archdiocese