Grave Robbery Spreads Across America

Opioid abuse and the rising value of bronze are among the factors driving thieves to loot cemeteries.

- By Faith Bottum

A cemetery in Compton, Calif, is being stripped day by day, month by month, Thieves have damaged or stolen nearly 1,600 headstones and plaques since 2023. “We got hit in January. We got hit in December. We got hit in November,” says Celestina Bish