Police Suggest Desecration Of Grave Is Rooted In Religion

TAMPA - As police continued to puzzle over who pried open a sealed vault and stole a little boy’s remains, a local scholar defended religions that use bones in rituals and said grave robbing isn’t protocol.

It was discovered Thursday by caretakers at Memorial Cemetery, within sight of busy East 22nd Street. But no one has come forward to say they saw who used a pry tool to break the adhesive seal on a 29-year-old marble vault that a family saved two years to buy. Police suspect it took more than one person to slide off the 600-pound lid once the seal was breached, peel back a metal liner and remove the coffin inside.

The coffin, which held the skeletal remains of 6-year-old Stevie Russell Dale, was found empty beside the vault. Police said it’s more than an act of vandalism. The investigation is exploring the fringes of the voodoo and Santeria religions.

“We don’t feel like it was pranksters or kids committing vandalism because it’s too much work to get these remains,” police spokesman Larry McKinnon said. “We are just leaning toward it being cult related or involving Santeria or some voodoo because we don’t have any other reasonable explanation.”

Professor Questions Police Theory

Their theory draws criticism from a professor familiar with such religions practiced outside the mainstream.

“It’s common with police; they are quick to blame a cultist or a religion they know little about when something strange happens. Media reinforces the theories,” said Danny Jorgensen, chairman of the religious studies department at the University of South Florida. “It’s not a voodoo practice or anything that would be known in Santeria. Those kinds of comments are immensely offensive to people who practice those religions.”

McKinnon acknowledged nothing was left at the grave site to indicate a religious ritual was involved, but defended the theory that Santeria or another religion might play a role. He also stressed that investigators are not focusing on anyone who adheres to the typical religious practices.

“Within every religion you are going to have fanatics. If you have extremists, you are going to have incidents.”

After 25 years in police work, McKinnon said he’s discovered plenty of Santeria and other religious shrines containing human and animal bones in Tampa. Detectives have not been able to trace any bones discovered in shrines back to vandalized graves, he said.

There have been multiple graves vandalized in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Hillsborough County over the years, McKinnon said. It’s difficult to say how many bones were taken from those graves. This latest case is the first time an entire skeleton has been stolen and the first time such a theft involved a child’s remains.

Santeria is an amalgamation of Roman Catholic and African Yoruba religions. It’s believed to have originated in Cuba when African-born slaves, forced to worship as Catholics, blended the religions to disguise their faith. Voodoo is a religion practiced chiefly in Caribbean countries, particularly Haiti and is based on West African spiritual traditions incorporating elements of Catholicism, according to Webster’s New College Dictionary

In Florida, Santeria gained popularity in 1980, when the Mariel boatlift brought 125,000 immigrants from Cuba. Many of them practiced Santeria, and it has grown with the influx of immigrants from Haiti and Jamaica.

The Anglo population knows little about either Santeria or voodoo, and that often carries over into law enforcement’s perceptions, said Jorgensen, who offered Tampa police the assistance of professors in his department.

“We would be glad to answer questions if they ask them,” he said. “We see it as a service we provide the community.”

McKinnon said the department will be consulting forensic and law enforcement experts.

Santeria has raised concerns among lawmakers because it sometimes calls for the sacrifice of animals, mainly chickens and goats. A Florida ordinance banning such sacrifices was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it was ruled unconstitutional in 1993.

Santeria Priest Doubts Religion’s Role

Juan Carlos, a high priest known as a babalawo in the Santeria religion, opened his shop Botanica Oluo-Popo in Town ‘N Country in 2004 to cater to the growing Hispanic population. His shopcarries herbal remedies and items used in practicing Santeria. It recently was burglarized.

On Sunday, Carlos said he doubts Santeria played a role in the grave robbing. He said it’s sad that most people only know the religion for its animal sacrifices.

“It’s not like that, and nobody I know would do that,” he said.

As police are searching for answers, mother Mattie Dale is asking her own questions. On May 2, 1975, her son, Stevie, died after being hit by a car.

“I would never think that a person would take [somebody's] bones away,” she said in an interview with News Channel 8 on Friday. “They took his life away and then they come in and take his bones now. I’m begging please, bring his remains back.”

Sharon Johnson of Plant City and her family, which includes her 6-year-old son, have offered a $1,000 for information leading to the remains recovery. Anyone with information can contact Detective Dennis Drabiniak at (813) 231-6130.

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