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FOX43 Finds Out: Paying for a Stolen Grave Marker

A family says someone stole their parent’s grave marker from a cemetery in Lancaster County and FOX43 Finds Out who pays for it to be replaced: the cemete...

A family says someone stole their parent's grave marker from a cemetery in Lancaster County and FOX43 Finds Out who pays for it to be replaced: the cemetery or the family?

"My father`s was on top right here and my mother`s was right below it."

Chester Gerhart explains what his parent's grave marker used to look like.

The family says someone recently stole the marker from Greenwood Cemetery in Lancaster.

Gerhart's sister, Gloria Kahler, contacted someone who works for the cemetery, asking if they could replace the marker or if they knew what happened.

"I said, what are you going to do about this because we`re not going to pay any money to have this replaced. He said, well your father was in the service so that`s going to be free. Then he said, don`t worry about it, he said we`ll take care of it," said Kahler.

Then she says the next time she talked to someone, cemetery employees told the family they would have to pay.

"In order to put your mom`s on you`re going to have to pay $600-something and I said no I`m not paying it because it`s not our responsibility, we already paid for them to be here."

She filed a police report.

"We`re not the first one that this has happened too. It has happened to other ones too," said Kahler.

Looking around the cemetery, we found another grave marker missing.

Gerhart said, "I just don`t understand why you would take something from a cemetery."

The cemetery is owned by Stonemor.

According to the company's website, Stonemor owns 322 cemeteries and 91 funeral homes across the country.

FOX43 Finds Out called company to ask who's responsibility it is to replace the grave marker the company would not answer any of our questions, only saying "no comment."

"I feel that the cemetery is responsible and they should have to pay for what happened," said Kahler.

The family also says at one point a cemetery employee told them to file a claim with their homeowner's insurance policy to cover the cost of the grave marker.

FOX43 Finds Out reached out to State Farm to see if that was an option and we were told "Damage to a headstone is not typically covered under a homeowners policy. However, some liability coverage for individual or family cemetery plots or burial vaults owned by an insured may be provided."

People with questions should check with their insurance agent to see if they're covered or not.

At this point, the family says it will be a hardship for them to pay to replace the grave marker if the cemetery doesn't do anything about it.

If you have a story you want Jackie to look into, FOX43 wants to find out.

Send her a message on Facebook or send an email to FOX43FindsOut@FOX43.com.

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