Vandal allegedly damages 35 headstones at metro cemetery
An Oklahoma City woman was arrested for allegedly vandalizing more than 30 headstones at Britton Cemetery over the weekend.
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KFOR) - An Oklahoma City woman was arrested for allegedly vandalizing more than 30 headstones at Britton Cemetery over the weekend.
"This is just so wrong and so disrespectful,” said the cemetery’s manager Tom Demuth.
Demuth told KFOR that the alleged vandal, Karina Escobar, was first spotted damaging the property with a hammer around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.
A woman who lives nearby heard the banging from her backyard.
“I just heard a bunch of, like, yelling and cussing and like, sounds of hammering and I walked into my property and she was just going to town on the tombstones," said Susanna Sawyer. “I was really disturbed."
Sawyer recorded a video of the incident.
According to Demuth, Escobar returned to the cemetery a little over an hour later.
"I got here in about 10 minutes and witnessed her doing the damage. I called the police immediately… She literally left just two to three minutes before the police got here,” said Demuth. “We just didn't feel comfortable confronting her because she did have a hammer in her hand and we didn't know her state of mind. So, we just let her walk up into the neighborhood and she disappeared."
Police didn’t find her on Saturday. However, around 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sawyer alerted authorities that Escobar was causing more destruction.
“I arrived and observed the female, later identified as Escobar wearing a maroon shirt hitting headstones with a blue Kobalt shovel,” said the police report.
Demuth said Escobar ultimately damaged 35 headstones. He believes each headstone was randomly targeted.
He said he estimates that the damage costs between $5,000 and $10,000.
"When something like this happens, the cemetery really is in a financial burden,” said Demuth. “We are going to see that all of the headstones that were turned over are properly put back in place and set up. I have a company that I'm working with and they have told me that they will help me with this."
Escobar was arrested and taken to the Oklahoma County Detention Center. According to the jail’s website, she’s facing a felony charge for malicious destruction of property $1,000 or more and a misdemeanor charge for injury to a cemetery, gravestone or tomb.