By KAREN LAGRANGE COX
UPDATE – October 23, 2024
Chelline Carter has advised that the knife taken from her son’s grave has been returned.
ORIGINAL – October 11, 2024
Chelline Carter reported that her son’s grave had been vandalized again, marking the third incident in the past year.
Carter’s son, Matthew Carter, is interred at St. Anne’s Cemetery in Youngsville, Louisiana. Matthew was seventeen years old when he died on January 22, 2020, after being found shot in his car on January 17, 2020.
Carter changes the flowers she leaves at Matthew’s grave for every holiday. In November 2023, she found the autumn flowers she had put out had been taken from his grave.
Due to the flower theft, Carter put a lock on the flowers she put out for Christmas last year. When she later visited the grave, she found an attempt to cut the lock.
Yesterday, when Carter visited her son’s grave, she said she found that the mementos she and her husband had placed there were missing. Upon inspecting the nearby graves, she noticed that nothing else had been disturbed, leading her to believe that her son’s grave was specifically targeted.
The items taken were little, priceless momentos that were only meaningful for Carter’s family. Some were rocks from her and her husband’s travels, things Matthew’s friend had put there.
Carter stated on a Facebook post (see full post):
“The groomsmen pocket knife from his brother’s wedding with his name on it. The little locket of tiny rough sapphires that I mined myself. The piece of petrified wood from the Petrified forest. The rock his God child bought for him from Oklahoma. The polished jade heart I bought for him in Arizona. Some super random rocks from our travels he didn’t get to go on. The lighter someone left. 20 or so cheap glass rocks from Walmart and many more things.“
A significant, meaningful item that was stolen was a pocket knife. The pocket knife was a groomsman gift, which was posthumously given to Matthew by one of his brothers. The knife has Matthew’s name on it.
Carter advised she has filed a police report and asks if anyone has any information on who may have taken the items from Matthew’s grave to please contact the Youngsville Police Department at (337) 856-5931.
Carter’s Facebook Post October 10, 2024:
I really can’t believe I’m making this post..
I went to Matthew Carter grave today to visit and clean it like I do once or twice a week.
I walked up to find that every memento that has been left on his grave since he was taken from us was gone.
Stolen.
The groomsmen pocket knife from his brother’s wedding with his name on it. The little locket of tiny rough sapphires that I mined myself. The piece of petrified wood from the Petrified forest. The rock his god child bought for him from oklahoma. The polished jade heart I bought for him in Arizona. Some super random rocks from our travels he didnt get to go on. The lighter someone left. 20 or so cheap glass rocks from Walmart and many more things.
It’s all gone. Every other grave around his is undisturbed. The church did not do it.
WHYYYYY? Just why won’t they let my baby rest in peace???? Why do they have to keep hurting us?
Some of those items have been on his grave since he was taken from us. I remove them before storms and bad weather and then bring them back to him year after year.
And now they’re all gone. I just don’t understand. They already took him from us. Why can’t we be left alone?
And yes. I filed a police report.
