A West Virginia gravedigger has been charged after allegedly desecrating a baby boy’s corpse at a cemetery.
Matthew Fortner, 49, was digging a grave at Baylous Cemetery in preparation for a burial when he allegedly struck the baby’s casket, according to 13 News.
Fortner, who has a prior murder conviction, then dumped the casket over a hillside near the gravesite and the baby’s corpse ended up in the middle of the cemetery, where a couple discovered it while decorating headstones for Easter.
They first noticed baby clothes in the cemetery on March 27 before finding the remains of the child, who was believed to be five days old when he was buried, according to WSAZ.
Investigators had looked at the graves in the cemetery to see if any had been disturbed and found none. They would later find out that Fortner had been digging another grave when he discovered the baby’s casket instead.
‘It’s like someone dug a grave up and there’s a baby. The casket’s thrown over a hill,’ a man who called 911 said, according to WSAZ.
Fortner was arrested on Wednesday and charged with displacement of a dead body and intentionally withholding information about the disturbance of human, skeletal remains.
He pleaded not guilty and he posted bond the next day after his arrest, records showed.
Matthew Fortner, 49, was digging a grave at Baylous Cemetery in preparation for a burial when he allegedly struck the baby casket. Fortner, who has a prior murder conviction, then dumped the casket over a hillside near the gravesite and the baby’s corpse ended up in the middle of the cemetery
Fortner was arrested on Wednesday and charged with displacement of a dead body and intentionally withholding information about the disturbance of human, skeletal remains. He pleaded not guilty and he posted bond the next day after his arrest
A couple discovered the remains while decorating gravesites for Easter
He faces up to five years in prison, if convicted.
‘It takes a sick individual, in my opinion, to desecrate a grave and mess with a corpse, period,’ Cabell County Sheriff Doug Adams told WSAZ.
The baby boy passed away in 1982, according to authorities. No other information was released about the child.
The Baylous Cemetery Board of Directors said it was ‘saddened to hear that an employee of a contractor used by Baylous Cemetery stands accused of committing this crime.’
‘We continue to cooperate with the Cabell County Sheriff’s Office and thank them for diligently working to solve this case. We hope that justice will be served,’ it told 13 News.
Fortner has previous criminal convictions, including murder, according to WSAZ.
The gravedigger was sentenced to life with mercy for the 1997 murder in 1999 after pleading guilty, the outlet said.
He was released from prison on parole in 2007.
The charge was later set aside and he later was sentenced to first-degree robbery with time served, the outlet said.
