The ex-husband of a deceased woman was caught on video urinating on her grave, the woman’s family
told News 12.
The couple has been divorced for over 40 years, the station said.
What are the details?
Michael Murphy told News 12 he and his sister last spring started finding deli bags filled with feces near the headstone of their mother, Linda Torello.
Image source: WABC-TV video screenshot
She’s buried at Tappan Reformed Church Cemetery in Tappan, New York, WABC-TV reported, adding that she died five years ago.
Murphy and his sister initially thought the bag of feces may have been left by a careless dog walker or a dog owner, News 12 said — but after a second bag was found, they were convinced they’d been left there intentionally.
“We contacted the police,” Murphy told News 12. “They came and took a report, and they said, ‘If you find another one, let us know.’ So we found another one a couple of weeks later.”
Murphy and his family then got permission from the cemetery to install cameras, News 12 said.
Indeed, camera timestamps showed a man coming to the grave around 6:15 a.m. for four consecutive days last week — all while the man’s wife waited in a car, News 12 reported.
Then on Day 5, Murphy propped his camera on a nearby headstone, shot video, and confirmed the man in question is his deceased mother’s ex-husband, adding to News 12 that she divorced him over four decades ago.
Image source: WABC-TV video screenshot
“There’s been no contact since ’76,” Murphy told News 12. “I know they were married for a year; they had a bad break.”
“I could see him up there … and I could hear the urine hitting the ground,” Murphy added to the station in an emotional portion of the interview.
Family: NJ man caught on camera desecrating their mother’s grave in Rockland County
youtu.be
“I promised my wife and kids the day before, I promised my sisters, because I was fuming, I would not hurt the man,” Murphy added to News 12. “But we wanted to do it the right way; we thought we’d get justice this way.”
Arrest made
Orangetown police arrested a 68-year-old man for allegedly urinating on the grave, WABC reported.
The family identified the suspect as Dean Eichler, WABC said, adding that he left Tortello when she got pregnant, claiming the child was not his. But the station said DNA testing showed “a much different result,” and Eichler’s biological daughter was shocked by her father’s actions.
Tortello remarried, WABC noted.
A neighbor told WABC the suspect lives in Bergenfield, New Jersey, and works in the deli section of a major food chain in Tenafly.
It’s unclear to Tortello’s family how long the grave desecration has been going on, but Murphy told News 12 they want more serious charges than just public urination and are hoping for legislation that will make it criminal to desecrate a grave in that way.