Mother says son's headstone removed over $65 bill

A Boston mother says she feels helpless after a monument company took her son's headstone from his grave site without notice.

"This is the only thing that I have, it meant a lot to me," Ania Remy told WFXT.

Remy's son, Jonathan, died in 2008 of sudden heart failure when he was just 17 years old.

After his death, Remy said she designed a headstone with Jonathan's picture and a Bible verse and paid Canniff Monuments in Roslindale more than $6,000 to produce the stone.

Remy said in the past eight years, she visited Jonathan's grave every few weeks - until a visit on Sunday, when she found his headstone was missing.

"I felt like my son just died again, a second time," Remy said.

Remy said she called Canniff Monuments, and the owner Ed Canniff first claimed the stone may have been stolen by someone who didn't like her son.

"I said, 'who would do that?'" Remy said.

Remy said a day later, Canniff told her she still had a $65 outstanding debt for payment on the headstone.

Remy said she wrote a check for that amount, and then Canniff told her she owed even more; another $120 fee to put the headstone back.

"It just made me feel so helpless," Remy said. "I don't want to pay them any more money. I just want them to bring the headstone back to where it was before."

WFTX went to Canniff Monuments to ask about the fees, but the owner declined an interview.

Canniff said his company had contacted Remy about payment for three years, and sent a letter threatening to remove to the stone before he acted.

Canniff refused to provide that documentation to WFTX, would not accept contact information for a follow up interview, and said he would not waive the $120 fee to replace the headstone.

"If I bend over backwards for her, I have to bend over backwards for everyone," Canniff said. "This is [expletive]."

Remy claimed she never received any notification of the debt she owed.

She said she just hopes they can come to a resolution that will allow her to once again touch her son's face -- if only at his grave.

"I feel hurt, I feel painful...it's just like everything from when he died came back to me," Remy said.

Cox Media Group