Mystery woman steals flowers from grave
She’s in her late teens or early 20s, she’s lean and she dyes her hair blond.
And she has a compulsion to steal flowers and mementos from the grave of great-grandmother Alma Allerston at St. Peter’s Cemetery in London, Ont.
A hidden video camera captured the woman ripping freshly planted flowers from the ground last week and then sprinting off. The video has been viewed more than 13 million times since it was posted on Facebook by Allerston’s daughter, Marg Medeiros. “It’s really heart wrenching, the gaping holes that are left (where the flowers were),” Medeiros told the Star. “We get there thinking there’s flowers, it’s pretty upsetting.”
Police have no leads as of yet, Medeiros said, but the family hopes whoever is doing this will stop.
“One time is one thing, but over and over and over again, every time we plant?
The camera that captured the theft was mounted on a branch of a nearby tree by Medeiros.
It recorded the 16th time someone stripped all the flowers and tributes from under Allerston’s headstone.
“Please help our family identify this person,” Medeiros said on Facebook. “If you have any information, please private message me and do NOT include personal details in the comments below. Feel free to share as we need all the help we can get.”
Allerston, 86, was buried in April and left behind eight children, 13 grandchildren and more than 20 great-grandchildren.
Medeiros said she’s been “absolutely mortified” both by the thievery and the media attention.
Police describe the thief as about 5 feet 5 inches tall and with dark roots in her blond hair.
“We have received some tips and we are continuing to investigate,” Const. Ken Steeves of the London Police Service said.