NUTLEY —
Police are trying to figure out how a tombstone with an engraving on it made its way to the NJ Transit bus terminal on Washington Ave. yesterday — and they’re hoping to locate the family to which the stone belongs.
Police said they were called to the terminal after an employee reported finding it.
The name on the stone is Max Ferreira. The birth date on the stone is June 16, 1990 and the date of death is Sept. 29, 1998.
It is not yet clear whether the stone belongs to a person or if it’s a sample that made its way from an engraver.
Meanwhile, Nutley police said they sent an alert to surrounding towns, but it’s possible no one has reported it missing yet. Police said they are calling local cemeteries to try to determine where the stone belongs.
“If this was the loss of a child, his parents must have been devastated, and to learn that someone would intentionally remove his headstone is unnerving,” Mayor and Police Director Alphonse Petracco said. “I hope that someone can identify where this occurred so that we can return it to where it belongs.”
Chief Thomas Strumolo said: “Until we can determine how and why this headstone was left, we can only speculate that it was removed from a human grave.”
Detectives said they hope someone recognizes the name on the tombstone, and contact the Nutley Police Department at 973-284-4940.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, a place where he has served on and off since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on Facebook Live, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to West Hudson to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.