The family of a woman buried in a New York state cemetery said her grave is routinely profaned by a man who urinates upon it and leaves feces there.
Linda Torello died of cancer in 2017. She is buried in the cemetery of Tappan Reformed Church in Orangetown, New York, just across the state line from New Jersey, according to the New York Post.
After weeks of finding bags of feces at his mom’s grave, Michael Andrew Murphy of Dumont, New Jersey, tried to get evidence.
At first, although he could get images, they were too blurry to matter, although they showed a regular pattern of visits at the same time every day, according to the Post.
On Sept. 18, he said that a phone he set up on a nearby headstone recorded a man urinating on his mother’s grave, according to the Daily Voice.
“I saw his car pull in. I tried to get in my car, but I was afraid I might spook him,” he said. “So I hid behind a shed.”
“I could see him walking up to the grave,” he said. “Believe me, I don’t know how I made it through that. I never had so much rage in my life.”
Murphy said an Orangetown police officer ticketed the man for public urination but is displeased with the police response.
“I’m sick over this. I can’t even think straight,” Murphy said.
Should this man face serious punishment for the vile vandalism?
The man involved had a relationship with Torello, Murphy said. Murphy said he is positive of the man’s identity.
Murphy first became aware of the situation in April when there was a small plastic bag of feces near the grave, the Post reported.
“I figured somebody was walking their dog and left it,” he said, according to the Daily Voice. But it wasn’t a one time incident.
“Sure enough, three weeks later, my sister went and found another bag,” Murphy said, noting that they found another bag in July, which led him and his sister to investigate further.
Murph said he has no idea how long this has gone on.
“He could have been peeing out there for five years, and we wouldn’t have known it,” Murphy said, according to the Post.
Murphy told the Daily Mail that the desecration of the grave has paused.
“I believe he stopped, but I’m so protective at this point that l’ve been going every morning just in case. At least if he sees a car there he will be deterred to keep driving by because the police were a complete letdown,” he said.
“I promised my wife and kids I wouldn’t hurt him, but I’m afraid to confront him because I wouldn’t be able to control myself if I got that close to him. He did this to my mother’s grave for months maybe years. Every cop I speak to has said, ‘You’re a better man than me ’cause I would have killed him,’” he said.
