Mari Roberts tells KSBY she buried her granddaughter Olivia at the cemetery two weeks ago. But on a recent visit, the displays on Olivia’s grave site had been destroyed.
“To be grieving the loss of a child is one thing that is unfathomable, but to come visit your child and see the destruction is unacceptable,” Roberts said.
She says since 16-year-old Olivia Mora-Thole was laid to rest, she would come by the cemetery every day to bring new flowers.
On her visit Monday, she was heartbroken by what she saw.
“Olivia’s cross was stolen with the lights that twinkled,” she recalled. “The sights around had smashed pumpkins and broken glass.”
Arroyo Grande District Cemetery manager Mike Marsalek says the displays and flower arrangements of roughly half a dozen grave sites had been destroyed.
He says Monday morning, grounds crews found other disturbing items when they arrived.
“We found some drug paraphernalia and nunchucks, and we thought someone was crazy enough to hit some of the flowers with the nunchucks or kick them away,” he said.
Marsalek adds that the cemetery does have a security camera in use, but that the vandalous incident took place outside of its vicinity.
He says cemetery entrances are also left open at the end of the day.
“It is open access because people don’t have regular schedules. They come late at night, early in the morning,” Marsalek explained. “In general, it wouldn’t even matter if it was locked, because people could jump over the fence.”
Arroyo Grande police said officers are still working to find the culprits responsible, Marsalek adding that it has been decades since vandalism of this scale has happened at his cemetery.
“We have streets named after people here in Arroyo Grande," he said. "It is something people may not realize but there is definitely history out here, in a place that is quiet and calm."
Despite the unexpected disruption to her granddaughter's new grave site, Mari Roberts says she will continue coming back to the cemetery daily.
Meanwhile, addressing the vandals directly, she asked them to think twice before coming back.
“It is a place of grief, and honor and love, and precious moments shared with our loved ones that are here. To dishonor that and degrade that and to just desecrate that is really heartbreaking," Roberts pleaded. "I would hope that people would think again."
Officials with the Arroyo Grande Police Department say they have increased overnight patrols throughout the cemetery in an effort to prevent this from happening again.
