ST. LOUIS — Two 73-year-old men have been charged after police said they spent days trying to dig up a grave at Washington Park Cemetery.
Jimmie V. Allen of St. Louis, and Zebulun Nash of Houston, Texas, were each charged Wednesday with one count of attempting to destroy or deface cemetery property.
Editors note: The above video was published on Aug. 23, 2023.
According to court documents, officers were called to the cemetery on Aug. 22 and found Allen throwing dirt from a gravesite. Nash was nearby covered in dirt and talking on the phone.
Nash told police he was digging up his grandmother's body to relocate it and that Allen had been helping him for the past few days. Allen told police the same story and said he'd finished most of the digging.
Washington Park Cemetery is a 103-year-old, predominantly Black cemetery. Kevin Bailey told 5 On Your Side his company Amazing Grace LLC has owned the cemetery since 2009.
Bailey and his attorney, Craig Smith, who didn't want to talk on camera, said the Texas man "bought the plot, owns it and can do whatever he wants to it."
However, Berkeley Police Chief Art Jackson said that under Missouri law to exhume a body from a grave one must have a state order, which Jackson says the two men did not possess.
Witness Kiesha Wayne said she saw the men digging in the stifling heat when she stopped by a nearby Steak 'n Shake where she works. She pulled out her phone and started recording a video.
Wayne said the men had been digging up the grave for the past two weeks and were there for hours that day.
"The real older man said that they paid somebody to dig up the body, but they got ripped off, so they took it upon themselves to dig up the body. I do feel sorry for the man whose loved one is or was buried there," Wayne said.
Jackson said police were told the men wanted to move the body to a different local cemetery. They were taken into custody that day and released "just because of their ages and the fact that they were in that heat," Jackson said.
Charges were issued to both men via summons. Nash was summoned to appear for a Dec. 12 plea hearing in St. Louis County court. Summons details for Allen were not yet publicly available.