From Local 3 News: A McMinn County couple says their son's grave has been desecrated by thieves and wants help to put the offender behind bars. &
From Local 3 News: A McMinn County couple says their son’s grave has been desecrated by thieves and wants help to put the offender behind bars.
Lisa and Dewey Henley buried their son at the Roger Creek Baptist Cemetery nearly 13 years ago.
Since then, thieves have stolen personal items from his grave. The family hired a private investigator to find the culprit.
“I couldn’t take from somebody living, but to take from somebody that’s gone, and especially a child? I mean, they see his picture right there on the grave,” said Lisa Henley, the mother of the late Heath Henley.
Her son, Heath Henley was 15 when he died, and it’s important for the couple to honor his legacy.
“I tried to keep his grave looking like I would keep his bedroom,” she expressed. “People tell me I do too much, but I can’t do enough.”
The Henley’s say the thieves have stolen custom-made items and displays over the years.
Their private investigator placed cameras around their son’s gravesite, hoping to catch the thieves in action.
“He had wanted to do it for years, to put a camera up there. We were afraid,” she said. “He said if it were somebody we knew, it would really hurt.”
Here are screen captures from a video of a man and the woman at the grave site in this van.
Police identified the man as Jeremiah Wolftake and the woman as Margaret Suzie Grant.
“You can see Suzie in the van, and it was like she was shopping, and he got out of the van, and he slung the door open, and she was kind of pointing like, ‘get that, get that.'”
Deputies arrested Wolfetake a year ago for theft. The Judge ordered him to serve two weeks in Jail and pay $400 restitution, an amount he has yet to pay.
The family’s P.I. says Wolfetake has not comeback, but Grant still returns.
“You know slapping somebody on the wrist and telling them not to do it again, ain’t gone to get it done,” he said. “Especially if it’s been done over and over, and they keep doing it. You know something heavy needs to be done.”
Police reports filed by the Henleys show two more robberies, one in January and February.
Here is a picture showing Grant at the cemetery again, holding the same fishing pole the Henleys purchased for their son.
“You realize they’re gone, and I know he’s not here in this grave. I know that in my heart, but at least he could be at peace if people would just leave him alone,” she said.
The McMinn County Sheriff’s Office has issued a warrant for Grant’s arrest.
Investigators say Margaret ‘Suzie’ Grant is wanted in two counties, both for property thefts.
Anyone with information is asked to call (423) 745-5620.
