Inset: Katherine Taylor. Screenshot: Taylor allegedly stealing items off graves at a cemetery in Palatka, Florida (Putnam County Sheriff’s Office).
Cops in Florida have arrested a woman after she allegedly stole mementos from graves so she could use them as lawn art at her home.
Katherine Taylor, 61, stands accused of two counts of criminal mischief, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release.
Relatives who have their parents interred side by side at Etoniah Cemetery in Palatka, approximately 35 miles southwest of St. Augustine, observed that someone was taking items they had left on graves.
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After notifying police in April about some missing miscellaneous items, the family decided to set up a camera, aiming to capture the thief in the act.
Apparently that’s exactly what happened.
The footage revealed a woman, later identified as Taylor, wandering around the gravesite adorned with mementos on Monday. She seemed to take one wind chime and attempted to snatch another but was unable to dislodge it.
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Detectives received anonymous tips identifying the suspect as Taylor. Cops went to confront her at her home in Interlachen, but they say they didn’t have to look very far for the stolen items. They were featured prominently in her yard, cops say. Aside from the wind chime, they also found a bird feeder previously stolen from the grave site, among other items, a probable cause arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime said.
Taylor told cops this is not the first time she was caught stealing from a cemetery. The Palatka Police Department arrested her in 2020 for stealing from the East Oak Hill Cemetery after she took an item from a grave. She was adjudicated guilty and sentenced to six months probation, records show.
The suspect, whom police dubbed a “habitual cemetery thief, was arrested for her latest theft and taken to the Putnam County Jail where she has since posted a $5,000 bond. She did not have an attorney listed.
