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One of the oldest cemeteries in the County is Holy Cross Cemetery near downtown Menlo Park. Founded in 1875, it has served the local Catholic community for well over a hundred years. It is remarkable for some fine tombstones and, unfortunately, a 1944 episode of grave robbing and corpse desecration.
A young woman named Dolores died of tuberculosis on April 6, 1944. Her family lived on Arguello Street in Redwood City. Her burial service followed the normal manner and it was only after her family had returned to their home that they remembered a special request Dolores had made: she wanted some of her high school English compositions to be buried with her. The family debated what to do, eventually deciding that a couple of her male relatives would return to the cemetery at night and secretly bury the papers at her gravesite.
Digging down into the earth they were surprised and horrified to find Dolores’s body on top of her coffin and her burial dress in shreds. Although what they had been doing was probably illegal, the men promptly reported their findings to the police.
There really weren’t that many suspects to question. Walter Perry was the sole gravedigger and he caved easily, confessing to removing Dolores from her coffin and mutilating the corpse. He named a young accomplice, Cole Madison, who helped him. He also stated that this was not the first time he had engaged in such activities, and gave police information on other graves he had disturbed. Sure enough, two additional bodies exhumed revealed missing rings and fingers. Perry explained the reason for his actions: he was “a ghoul.” He and Madison were taken into custody and soon after went into a mental hospital.
Dolores was reburied, apparently with her English papers, on April 15th, without a formal service.
Perry and Madison were arraigned in a Redwood City courtroom on May 17th. They were later examined by psychiatrists on June 27th. Both had pleaded not guilty to the charge of mutilating a body. During their questioning, psychiatrists found that Perry had been placed in a mental institution by his parents at the age of 12.
The Times reported on October 25th that Perry and Madison “…will be brought back from a state hospital to stand trial here on felony charges…of mutilating a body.” Both men went on trial on December 18, 1944, but my searches found no records of the verdicts or sentences for either man. I can only imagine that Perry, at least, was placed in a secure mental health facility.
Typically viewed as a bygone problem, grave robbing still exists today. Sam Tetrault, a graduate of Flagler College in Florida, wrote in an online posting that “grave robbers still target older…cemeteries, especially those likely to have valuables left…for decades or even centuries…”
