Disturbed gravestone upsets son on Mother's Day

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - It was a frustrating mother's day for a New Whiteland son who headed to the cemetery to remember his mom.

Steve and Brenda Page say they found his mother's gravestone moved off its marker and chipped at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis on Sunday.

They say they found others around it disturbed as well - and say it's not the first time this has happened.

"This is my mother's final resting place... When you come out and see something like that, the amount of money you pay this cemetery... for them to at least take care of the grave site. I mean, you know, that just breaks your heart to see that," Page said. 

"I would say I've had uh, about 9 times and had them come look at it, and then next time I come out here, it's the same way."

"I feel badly for the family that this is Mother's Day, and we didn't have the opportunity to correct this problem because we weren't made aware of it," said Keith Norwalk, President of Crown Hill Cemetery.

He said the cemetery has a system in place to fix or repair any stones that this happens to within 24 hours after employees are made aware of the problem.

"We have over 200,000 burials in the cemetery, and there are occasions where a marker can be dislodged by a lawn mower or a piece of equipment," Norwalk said.

He said since burials aren't sequential, equipment does sometimes have to go through areas near other gravestones. He said the cemetery will fix or repair this one Monday.

Page said he's just hoping this doesn't happen yet again. "It just breaks your heart," he added.