Mummified baby corpse missing from US grave site

[tmdgirl]

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/1.../us_mummy_baby

CONCORD, N.H. - The mummified body of a baby, kept by a family for nearly a century before a judge ordered the remains to be buried, has been removed from a cemetery, police said Tuesday.


A cemetery visitor on Monday reported that a grave appeared to have been unearthed, police Sgt. John Thomas said. The corpse of "Baby John" has not been recovered, he said.


The mummified body had been kept for years by Charles Peavey. He had said the family had the mummy, possibly the stillborn son of a great-great-uncle, for 80 to 90 years and considered it a family heirloom.


Police learned of it in 2006 after Peavey's then-4-year-old niece mentioned it at her day care centre. Authorities took the 18-inch mummy in for testing, and Peavey went to probate court to get custody of it.


The tests concluded the baby died of natural causes shortly after his birth and confirmed the remains were decades old, but did not determine the age or origin. DNA testing failed to prove the boy was related to Peavey, and so a probate judge ordered the remains buried.


The remains were interred in 2008 in an unmarked grave in a section of Concord's Blossom Hill Cemetery containing the graves of infants and young children. Stuffed animals, figurines and other toys decorated the children's gravesites Tuesday.


"It wasn't that well-known where the exact location was," Thomas said of the gravesite.


Thomas said the police believe the grave was disturbed over the weekend. After seeing evidence of grave-tampering, investigators got a search warrant to exhume the site and found the casket, but not the remains, he said. He said many people have been interviewed and declined to name any suspects.


Peavey denies disturbing the grave site, but his home and car were searched Monday, said his attorney, Jim Rosenberg.


"He has no information to offer with regard to this mess," Rosenberg said.


Peavey has not been charged with any crime.


"His sole wish, when Baby John was put to rest a couple years back now, was that the baby could rest peacefully," Rosenberg said. "This news has been extremely difficult for Mr. Peavey to deal with."


Disturbance of a burial site and abuse of a corpse are felonies.


Relatives had treated the mummified infant as a family member, giving it cards during holidays and a dried fish as a pet.

Kind of gross to keep a mummified corpse, but really sad and disgusting that someone felt the need to steal it from a grave.

[~Absynthe~]

is that lil fella ever gonna get any rest?

[Valasca]

I would keep a mummified corpse, but not a baby.
Say... Charlie Chaplin or something.

[redsaid]

Wow, being abused eons after death. Just wow.

[Aena]

Who would want a mummified corpse except the person/s that had it taken away? Gruesome trophy if it was just a weirdo with a fetish for dead bodies. The baby is a hundred years old, he will never RIP, sad.

[AmyB80]

Can you imagine cleaning out your deceased relatives home and finding something like this? Holy shit.

[Silvahalo]

Relatives had treated the mummified infant as a family member, giving it cards during holidays and a dried fish as a pet.

This is sad and a bit creepy but I do feel bad for the family. For whatever reason they recognized baby John as part of the family, keeping him for an entire century, passing him on as a family heirloom. Now, I'd never do this myself, too disturbing but I can see how this is similar to keeping an urn of a loved one, not the same thing certainly but the idea is much the same.

I do hope baby is found and put to rest, tho I believe because of the circumstances surrounding his death, he's been at rest for a long time. Just his little body remains, an empty shell.

Heavens peace baby John, I hope you're there.

[moonlilly1981]

It is strange but measums keep mummies all the time. They dont have to bury their mummies. What is really sad is the baby was stolen from its grave. It was someone who knew what he was.

[Tundratot]

I can't imagine who would want to exhume the baby but the family. It's an unmarked grave. Who knows it's there but the family? I think the family has it, somewhere. They're probably waiting for the hubbub to die down before they bring it back out.

I just can't imagine why the mummified baby was kept in the first place. Did someone have a hard time dealing with loss? Did they prop it up in a corner and move it around during the day, as if it were going through the motions of living? Or did they keep it in a Cinderella glass coffin or curio cabinet? It just boggles the mind.

[redsaid]

Who knows why they hadn't buried it years ago, or even when the authorities got involved. I guess they got attached.