Gravesite for stolen headstone identified
RENO -- A thief with a guilty conscience has helped get a 19th-century headstone back to its original location in a historic Northern Nevada cemetery where he stole it more than 30 years ago.
Historians said they pinpointed the site Friday in the Gold Hill Cemetery 25 miles southeast of Reno using photographs the unidentified crook-turned-do-gooder dropped off last month on the doorstep of the Comstock History Center in nearby Virginia City.
The photos depicting the grave marker's original placement were dated 1974, which is believed to be the same year the thief made off with the headstone as a souvenir, said Candace Wheeler, president of the nonprofit Comstock Cemetery Foundation.
The marker itself was abandoned outside the courthouse in Virginia City in 1989 and had been in storage since the photos surfaced.
The headstone was for Mary A.L. Neville, who died April 14, 1872, at the age of 33 during a mining boom around Virginia City.
Wheeler said she believes the thief is the latest in a long line of people who have returned stolen cemetery items.
"Stuff like this almost never happens," she said. "The photos were the breakthrough we needed to find the headstone's original location."
