TROUP (KYTX) - A baffling mystery at an East Texas cemetery. A family says one of their loved one's headstones is missing, replaced with someone else's.
"They put this tombstone where my grandmother's tombstone [is] and where is my grandmother's tombstone? Where is it at? This is where she was buried at."
Alice Medford says most of her deceased family is buried at Liberty Cemetery in Troup, including her grandmother- Mary Jane Walker Medford. But, Alice says when she went to visit her grandmother's grave Wednesday, she found recently turned dirt, and the tombstone was swapped.
"Ms. Helen Calip is here," says Medford, "but my grandmother's been dead like over 30 something years. Where is her tombstone?"
Alice says she knows that's her grandmother's plot because of where it's placed in relation to her other relatives graves.
Alice talked to Calip's daughter.
"She said her mother is in the right spot. Ok, she might be, but my grandmother is in the right spot too, but they took her tombstone."
Making her think the worst.
"Do they have another body on top of my grandmother?"
Alice even called the Smith County Sheriff's Office to investigate.
Cottle Funeral Home Director Gene Cottle says the Calips purchased a headstone from him years ago, but he never hired anyone to move it.
Cemetery caretaker James Wade says he had nothing to do with it either
"I'm the caretaker here and Cottle had never gotten ahold of me about a grave like this." he says.
Medford says she hopes no other family has to go through something like this.
"This is our loved one and anybody else would be the same way about their loved one."
CBS19 did contact the Calip family Wednesday night. We left a message for Mae Helen Calip's daughter. we haven't heard back yet.
If you have any information about the missing tombstone, call the Smith County Sheriff's Department.
