A Kansas City, Kansas cemetery was robbed of more than 200 brass vases last weekend.
Mike Matney, the owner of Maple Hill Cemetery, said 230 brass vases were stolen overnight on April 16. He said blocks 24 and 27 were hit the hardest.
Matney estimates they are valued between $100 and $200 a piece.
Matney said this is the first significant incident at the cemetery in his 25 years there. He complimented Kansas City Kansas police for their response and security over the years.
Insurance does not cover thefts like these from the cemetery, meaning they will have to pay $100 to $200 for the replacement.
"There's gonna be a lot of upset families here, and again, we just like to try to help through that and no one's more upset than I am," said Matney.
Matney said this is the case for most if not all cemeteries.
Kansas City, Kansas police confirmed a police report was filed.
Not the first thefts at KCK cemeteries
Families are upset and frustrated as a plague of cemetery thefts continue to hit KCK.
Chapel Hill Cemetery opened in 1948. It wasn't until November 2015 when hundreds of bronze vases went missing.
"We're trying our best to replace the vases that have been taken," said Chapel Hill General Manager Joel Brinkley.
But replacing them is a huge challenge. They're usually made of solid bronze or brass and can be worth hundreds of dollars each. Considering there have been 700 stolen at Chapel Hill since November, it's a huge monetary concern and something insurance usually doesn't cover.
"They do make cemetery vases that look and feel like bronze but are actually zinc, but they make them that way so they don't look out of place ... Someone who would actually come out and do something like this and take from a cemetery wild probably not have the sense to know which ones are zinc and which ones are bronze," said Brinkley when asked about a cheaper alternative.
Brinkley has considered adding more security to Chapel Hill but is hesitant because he doesn't want visiting families to feel uncomfortable.
KCK police don't have any leads regarding who's behind the robberies. Another major concern is who's buying the stolen property.
"Somebody shows up with a truck load of cemetery vases, that should be a red flag. Nobody should be buying those. It's completely illegal," said Brinkley.
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Josh Helmuth can be reached at josh.helmuth@kshb.com
