Who dug up 1895 grave at Greenwood Cemetery? Coroner's office says groundhog is to blame

ZANESVILLE − A groundhog dug up more than dirt while building himself a new home at Greenwood Cemetery.

“It took out about five to six bones, including a femur bone,” Muskingum County Coroner’s Office Investigator Greg Jadwin said. “This is the second time it’s happened in Greenwood. When the bones are out of the grave and up on top like that, they want somebody to do something with it.”

According to Greenwood Cemetery Superintendent Howard Bailey, an employee who was mowing the grass in one of the older sections of the cemetery discovered the bones on Friday. They immediately contacted police, who contacted the coroner.

“There has to be an investigation,” Bailey said. “We have to make sure that it’s not staged, that it’s not someone trying to get rid of remains caused by murder. That’s why the coroner is involved, to make sure the coroner says this bone came from this place.”

Jadwin had no problem identifying this culprit thanks to the many holes it left behind.

“And it’s opened up the same hole twice since Friday,” he said, adding that the grave in question was an individual who was buried in 1895. “The cemetery tried to find the family, but no one was found.”

Bailey said it’s incredibly important when something like this happens to make sure the family is taken care of.

“We want to make sure we pay every respect,” he said. “We do as much as we possibly can if there are family members still living, to put them at ease. In this case, there are no living relatives, so we just have to do the service ourselves without any family members.”

Bailey, along with the coroner, will join Darren Talbert, who will offer a prayer and service, and Snouffer Funeral Home, which donated an urn for the bones, for a recommittal ceremony at 10 a.m. Thursday.

“We’re doing our best to rectify the situation,” Bailey said. “We are now in the process of trying to deal with the groundhogs in our cemetery. We may have to hire people to come in and get them out of here.”

Bailey said this type of situation is not unusual for graves that are more than 80 years old.

“In this day and age, the newer graves come with a vault,” he said. “So, the casket goes into a vault, and the groundhogs can’t get into that.”However, bodies buried more than 80 years old are often just in a casket, or sometimes just in a box.

“Those are the ones we really have the issues with the groundhogs,” Bailey said. “(The groundhogs) usually bring up the hinges and the latches on the caskets, as opposed to bringing up the bones. But it does happen on rare occasions.”

Bailey said the most important thing moving forward is that any cemetery visitors who see any damage or bones at any of the graves should contact his office immediately.“We want to make sure we honor the families and contact them as soon as we can with any issues.”

This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: Groundhog blamed for digging up 1895 grave at Greenwood Cemetery