Look Who it Was Random video

Memorial Statue Stolen From Front Yard In Lafayette

311 views · Published 26 March 2013 · 2:17 · Indexed 24 October 2026

Channel: WTVC NewsChannel 9 · 2013 · News & Politics

Watch on YouTube

by Alyssa Spirato  Imagine waking up to find a beloved statue in your front yard gone. That fear became reality for one Lafayette woman after she says a statue honoring her late mother was taken right from her home.Right next to a picture of Leatha Shropshire's mother sits an empty stone. Around it are fairy and angel statues. But one statue in particular she fears she'll never get back.I can't tell you how it made me feel that something I bought for my mother, that somebody could come up in my yard and take so easily and they have to know that was there for a reason because my mother's pictures there, says Shropshire.Shropshire says her mother shared a love for angels. The 3-foot tall statue sat in the same place for more than 2 years. It wasn't until she began planting in her memorial garden last week that she realized it was missing.You begin to be able to deal with it a little bit then something happens and it brings it all back to you. We're never going to be able to be over it completely, says Shropshire.Shropshire knew a memorial in the cemetery wouldn't be enough to honor other families affected at the Tri-State crematorium in Noble, Georgia,  or enough to honor her late mother.So she started the memorial garden shortly after her mother's body was discovered. And just a few months ago, she added a banner showing support. Shortly after her mother passed in 2002, her body was discovered two weeks later, along with 334 other bodies found buried in pits and even stacked in piles.To her, the angel statue was something that can never be replaced.Shropshire says even though the memorial stands in memory of her mother and hundreds others she still says it's not enough.She says she'll take the banner down in a few weeks and will put it back up next year when it comes time for the crematorium's 13th anniversary.

More from this channel