LACONIA â A wheelbarrow found last week at the Laconia State School property contained plumbing parts, as well as at least one 70-year-old grave marker. The police are asking for the publicâs help in determining where the marker belongs, and who might have been involved in its removal.
Martha Clement discovered the cache of materials on March 28, and brought the discovery to police.
âI walk my dogs up there twice a day,â said Clement, who added she tends to be in good company. There are several others who make a trek at Ahern State Park and the former Laconia State School property a part of their daily routines, and she has gotten to know, or at least to recognize, her fellow walkers over the years.
Sometimes Clement sees strange people on the grounds, and said she usually marks them as people checking out the old buildings, out of personal history or perhaps just a general interest in spooky, abandoned buildings.
Thereâs a third category she sometimes encounters, she said: people who act suspiciously, donât appear to be out for a stroll, and wonât look her in the eye.
âI can tell when itâs not a dog walker or someone interested in old buildings,â Clement said.
If her suspicion is raised high enough, she will report the activity to police, as she understands people might be scavenging buildings for materials such as copper they can sell to a recycler.
On March 28, Clementâs eye caught on a few unfamiliar trucks parked at the property. She passed them in her car on her way to park, and they were gone when she passed by the spot again on foot.
âAfter the trucks left we walked up the path to go to the State School, and there was this wheelbarrow.â The barrow had been positioned behind the trucks, near the fenceline.
In the wheelbarrow were a pile of pipes and other plumbing supplies. Sitting on top, though, was an apparent grave marker, a masonry plaque bearing the name âWilliam Crawfordâ and the years 1915 and 1953.
She said she saw what could have been pieces of another marker, which might have fallen apart during the removal.
Clement said she has increasing feelings of ambivalence about material thefts from the abandoned buildings â after all, they are likely to be demolished soon to make way for future development â but takes exception to the disturbance of a burial site.
âIt makes me sad,â she said, to think of the place, which was once a residential facility for people with developmental disabilities, being ransacked. âI always feel sad for the people who lived there and worked there, and now itâs being desecrated.â
In a post to social media, Clement asked the public to come forward with information about who might be behind that desecration.
Matt Canfield, chief of police, would also like to know the answer to that question.
âWe are investigating it,â he said on Thursday, adding his investigation could be accelerated by tips from the public.
âWe are looking for anyone who might have seen or heard something in that area, between 6:30 and 7:30 (a.m.). Weâve spoken to a few people but weâre looking for a few more people to help us develop a lead in the case.â
Canfield said he suspects the activity, based on the location of the wheelbarrow, was focused on the Blood Building. He said heâd like to hear from anyone who saw âanything out of the ordinaryâ that morning, such as people âin and out of the buildings up there or skulking around, as opposed to the everyday walkers.â
Police have not yet determined where the marker or markers came from. He said anyone who knows who William Crawford was, especially to include where he was buried, is urged to contact police.
He suspects the materials were removed from the building and then placed in the wheelbarrow to transport to vehicles, before being ultimately left behind.
âWeâve had problems with people stealing copper from the those buildings, over a number of years and recently,â Canfield said.
The inclusion of the grave marker makes this incident unique, he said.
âItâs definitely quite unusual, not common at all,â to have burial sites looted. âTo me, itâs completely disgraceful. Thatâs somebodyâs loved one, presumably buried with that grave marker. To remove that marker, itâs not OK.â
State laws agree with Canfield. He said interfering with a grave, if that indeed is what happened, would be a felony.
Tips can be delivered to Laconia Police by texting the word LACONIA to 847411, by using the Laconia Police Department app, by using the anonymous form on the departmentâs website, or by calling 603-524-5257.
