Goshen Man Faces Charges After Damaging Syracuse Grave Markers
August 1, 2019 at 11:27 p.m.
By Amanda Bridgman-
Gordon R. Miller, 64, was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail at 7:01 a.m. Wednesday for operating a vehicle while intoxicated with a bond set at $700.
According to the police report, Syracuse Police Department officer Joseph Leach was dispatched at 11:16 a.m. Wednesday to Syracuse Cemetery in reference to someone drove through the cemetery, went off the road and hit multiple headstones.
Matthew Kissane, president of the Cemetery Association, told Leach he came to check the cemetery every day, as usual, and noticed the damage to all the headstones and that there were a lot of broken pieces from the vehicle that hit them.
Leach collected the pieces of the vehicle, which included a Chevrolet front bumper emblem, and came to the conclusion the vehicle was probably a red Chevrolet Avalanche. Leach then phoned SPD officer Jason Longmire about the OWI arrest he made at Wilby's gas station in Syracuse earlier that morning.
"Officer Longmire had a gentleman that was at Wilby's gas station in Syracuse in a red Chevy Avalanche with extensive front and side damage," the report states. "Officer Longmire stated the driver of the Avalanche told him he had hit something with his vehicle but couldn't remember what he had hit."
Miller was taken into custody, and his truck was taken to Stuckman's Salvage Yard with a police hold put in place.
Leach took the pieces of the vehicle he picked up from the cemetery to Stuckman's and it was determined they matched the truck. Wilby's security camera footage of when Miller arrived will be handed over to police, the report states.
Richard Owen, of Owen Family Funeral Home in Syracuse and a board member of the Cemetery Association, said the damage occurred in the older section of the cemetery.
"The problem is, they're such old stones that there may not be any next of kin available to deal with, so it's going to be really tough," Owen said. "Some of those are really, really old stones," he said, adding that the headstones "mean everything" to a family.
Miller bonded out of jail at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
Gordon R. Miller, 64, was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail at 7:01 a.m. Wednesday for operating a vehicle while intoxicated with a bond set at $700.
According to the police report, Syracuse Police Department officer Joseph Leach was dispatched at 11:16 a.m. Wednesday to Syracuse Cemetery in reference to someone drove through the cemetery, went off the road and hit multiple headstones.
Matthew Kissane, president of the Cemetery Association, told Leach he came to check the cemetery every day, as usual, and noticed the damage to all the headstones and that there were a lot of broken pieces from the vehicle that hit them.
Leach collected the pieces of the vehicle, which included a Chevrolet front bumper emblem, and came to the conclusion the vehicle was probably a red Chevrolet Avalanche. Leach then phoned SPD officer Jason Longmire about the OWI arrest he made at Wilby's gas station in Syracuse earlier that morning.
"Officer Longmire had a gentleman that was at Wilby's gas station in Syracuse in a red Chevy Avalanche with extensive front and side damage," the report states. "Officer Longmire stated the driver of the Avalanche told him he had hit something with his vehicle but couldn't remember what he had hit."
Miller was taken into custody, and his truck was taken to Stuckman's Salvage Yard with a police hold put in place.
Leach took the pieces of the vehicle he picked up from the cemetery to Stuckman's and it was determined they matched the truck. Wilby's security camera footage of when Miller arrived will be handed over to police, the report states.
Richard Owen, of Owen Family Funeral Home in Syracuse and a board member of the Cemetery Association, said the damage occurred in the older section of the cemetery.
"The problem is, they're such old stones that there may not be any next of kin available to deal with, so it's going to be really tough," Owen said. "Some of those are really, really old stones," he said, adding that the headstones "mean everything" to a family.
Miller bonded out of jail at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
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