Bones, Damaged Crypts Seen In Cemetery Near US-1 In Cocoa
Posted: 5:35 pm EDT June 16, 2008
COCOA, Fla. -- Human skulls and crumbling crypts; it's almost unimaginable what Channel 9 found in an old Cocoa graveyard. The Hilltop cemetery is right along busy US-1 in Cocoa.
SLIDESHOW: Images From The Scene
Crypts in the Hilltop Cemetery are up to a century old and they are breaking open to reveal the skeletons inside. City officials admit it is creepy and disturbing. They can legally do little more than put up crime scene tape to keep people from getting injured.Gravestones at the cemetery offer a trip through history, but many of the gravestones are no longer even standing. Gravesites, some of veterans of both world wars, are sinking, buckling and, in the most extreme cases, cracking wide open.Several are exposing skeletal remains, including skulls and human bones deep inside the shadowed crypts. Ronnie Clickner was shocked to see it."It was astonishment why they would be open and nobody would do anything about it," Clickner said.Clickner works next door maintaining cars at Tire Kingdom on US-1. He and his colleagues were so fed up that they called police."Several people who work in the area noticed that this is just deteriorating terribly. Apparently they walked out and saw a coffin with bones exposed," said Det. Barbara Mathews of the Cocoa Police Department.There are at least three graves in that condition and police say they can only protect what is left. Through a hole in one crypt lid, a body with a burial dress still in tact can be seen.City of Cocoa officials have not been able to contact anyone involved with a trust that is responsible for maintaining the site."I feel badly for people who have families there," said deputy city manager, Wendy Widman. "It's reprehensible. I wouldn't want my family member to be exposed."City attorneys are now looking into how the city might legally take control of the Hilltop cemetery and bring dignity back to the dead.Police are warning residents not to cause further damage and will be patrolling the area.
Crypts in the Hilltop Cemetery are up to a century old and they are breaking open to reveal the skeletons inside. City officials admit it is creepy and disturbing. They can legally do little more than put up crime scene tape to keep people from getting injured.Gravestones at the cemetery offer a trip through history, but many of the gravestones are no longer even standing. Gravesites, some of veterans of both world wars, are sinking, buckling and, in the most extreme cases, cracking wide open.Several are exposing skeletal remains, including skulls and human bones deep inside the shadowed crypts. Ronnie Clickner was shocked to see it."It was astonishment why they would be open and nobody would do anything about it," Clickner said.Clickner works next door maintaining cars at Tire Kingdom on US-1. He and his colleagues were so fed up that they called police."Several people who work in the area noticed that this is just deteriorating terribly. Apparently they walked out and saw a coffin with bones exposed," said Det. Barbara Mathews of the Cocoa Police Department.There are at least three graves in that condition and police say they can only protect what is left. Through a hole in one crypt lid, a body with a burial dress still in tact can be seen.City of Cocoa officials have not been able to contact anyone involved with a trust that is responsible for maintaining the site."I feel badly for people who have families there," said deputy city manager, Wendy Widman. "It's reprehensible. I wouldn't want my family member to be exposed."City attorneys are now looking into how the city might legally take control of the Hilltop cemetery and bring dignity back to the dead.Police are warning residents not to cause further damage and will be patrolling the area.
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