AURORA (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Aurora Police said they have arrested a man who was digging up a century-old grave site at West Aurora Cemetery yesterday.
Police said it was in broad daylight when 33-year-old Jeremy Rivers of Aurora was digging at a gravesite.
"There was about a 2- or 3-foot pile of dirt next to the grave, so he had been digging for some time—down to the remains—although he didn't apparently remove any remains from the gravesite, said Aurora Police Sergeant Bill Rowley.
He said when people approached Rivers, he told them he was moving the remains at the request of the family, which Rowley said was not true.
Rowley said the grave contains the remains of Victoria Vittetow, who was born in the late 1860's and died in 1920. According to her grave's memorial site on Find A Grave, she was buried on Feb. 2, one day after her death.
Rivers was charged with desecrating human remains, a Class 3 felony.
Grave photo courtesy Lisa Gerald.
