Police investigate damaged tombstones at Windsor cemetery

Police in Windsor have launched an investigation after roughly a dozen tombstones in a local cemetery were damaged.

Staff at the St. Alphonsus Roman Catholic Cemetery have wrapped the tombstones, knocked off their stone bases, in yellow caution tape.

Windsor police confirmed that they received a report on Monday "indicating that headstones had been knocked over" at the cemetery.

"This occurrence is in the early stages of investigation," a Windsor Police Services spokesperson said. 

One local woman who visited the cemetery on Sunday said the scene overwhelmed her. 

"I just couldn't get over how anyone could do that towards someone's resting space. They're in their final place," said Wendy Morano, who was there with her husband to visit her twin sister's grave.

Morano posted a video of the tombstone damage to social media, where fellow Windsorites reacted with sadness and anger.

A representative for the cemetery said the damaged tombstones have been marked and will be repaired when the ground dries out in the coming weeks. 

It's not the first time the cemetery has been vandalized. In 2014, thieves damaged around 50 crypts when they removed vases and other items, leaving flowers and mementos on the ground.

The cemetery is home to decades-old graves, including those of veterans who served in the First and Second World Wars.

Morano said she and her twin were both born "very premature," and her sister did not survive. 

"This is my only way to be with my sister," she said. "I never got that opportunity with her dying young."

Her sister's grave was not damaged, Morano said, but the experience of seeing the destruction nearby left her feeling traumatized nonetheless. 

Morano said she posted the video so that other people whose family members are interred there would know to check on their loved ones' tombstones. "I couldn't imagine those poor people," she said.

She said she wants the public – and those who might be responsible for the damage – to know that there is already "so much hatred in our world right now."

"We just need to do better."