Local

Gravesite of 2-year-old who died of brain cancer in Camden County vandalized

CAMDEN COUNTY, Ga. — A local gravesite was damaged, just weeks after a family buried their little girl who died of brain cancer.

Erica Crews holds some of the smashed flowers that used to decorate her daughter’s grave.

“It made me sick to know that someone would be so cruel and so mean to just destroy a grave, let alone a child’s grave,” said Crews.

Crews said vases were thrown and flowers were smashed -- just a few weeks after they buried their little girl, 2-year-old Addison.

“The stands to the sprays were gone, the flowers were pulled and picked out of the sprays and thrown everywhere. We come here just to remember her and how beautiful she was. We want her grave to be the same. When it’s destroyed like that, it takes it all away,” she said.

“It extends the grieving, I’m sure the parents are wondering why,” said Kay Westberry, Oak Grove Cemetery director.

The little girl's gravesite was one of two that were damaged.

Westberry said the cemetery gates are locked each night, and she isn’t sure how the vandals got, but said she believes they were in a hurry, and backed into a metal chain, breaking it off, before taking off.

“They didn’t actually hurt the grave, but it is a form of desecration when your parents put out things to honor you, and somebody destroys them, it’s sad, “ she said.

Crews and her family spent the day replacing the flowers. They had a beautiful daughter, and said her resting place should be beautiful.

“We will keep flowers here always, we want it to stay beautiful just like Addy was,”  Crews said.