Woman visits mom's grave to discover the headstone is missing

A Mid-South woman was disturbed when she couldn't find her mother's gravesite.

Precious Goldsmith went to the Shelby County Cemetery this past Mother's day only to find out that her mother's headstone was missing.

She reached out to WREG and said that it's now difficult for her to come back to the cemetery because she doesn't have any idea where her mother is.

All she wanted was to visit her mother this year for Mother's day, but she found nothing but dirt when she came to the graveyard.

Seven years ago, Goldsmith's mother was buried at the Shelby County Cemetery.

She said: "She was here. You can actually see the crease of it, and see how my whole finger can fit through there."

The woman added that many people nowadays "steal headstones and then flip it over and re-engrave them."

"It kind of defeats the purpose of coming out here. It makes me made to come out here, because I don't even know who I'm grieving or talking to," Goldsmith explained.

One mother named Danielle Briggs was also having a hard time finding her son's burial spot.

"Sometimes I can come out here when they freshly cut the grass and it's easier to find," she said.

Mark Seay, who is in charge of the cemetery, said that all dead people are numbered.

He also said that headstones, though it was allowed years ago, are forbidden but the ones in the ground get to stay.

Mark believed that the headstone of Goldsmith's mother was possibly covered by grass and dirt from mowers and rain.

He and the other cemetery worker sprang into action to help get to the root of Goldsmith's problem.

They started to dig until finally, they found Goldsmith's marking number.

According to the cemetery workers, they will be happy to show Goldsmith where her marker number was located, WREG reported.