.png)
The alleged grave digger ‘buried a necklace and needed money and went back to retrieve that necklace.’
By Allison Scarbrough, News Editor
OTTO TOWNSHIP — The case of suspicious digging near a gravesite last week has been solved following a police investigation.
“The detectives got a hold of the family of the gentleman buried in the grave,” said Oceana County Sheriff Craig Mast. “Come to find out, the grave where he was digging did have live descendants. And apparently one of them has picked up some bad habits, and at one point claims he buried a necklace and needed money and went back to retrieve that necklace.”
The Fremont man who allegedly dug near the grave is the deceased man’s son. It was initially believed that the digging was associated with the grave of a person who died in 1964. However, investigators later discovered the digging occurred near the grave of a man who was born in 1968, said Sheriff Mast.
Oceana County sheriff’s detectives investigated a “suspicious situation” at the Otto Township Cemetery, at 2801 E. Garfield Rd., Monday evening Oct. 27, in which a person was witnessed digging in the ground near a grave, said Sheriff Mast. The witness also observed a van parked nearby. The incident occurred at 7:24 p.m., which is after dark this time of year.
The man in question refused to talk to investigators in person, and their information came from the man’s brother. However, the alleged grave digger received a warning via the brother. “We warned firmly about the consequences of digging in a graveyard. If he disturbs a grave or anything of that nature, he could very well be charged.
“He had advised that his brother told him that he did dig in the ground and advised that he was trying to recover a piece of jewelry that he had buried in the grave a couple of years earlier. We explained to the brother that disturbing a grave could be considered criminal, and he needs to not do this.
“The initial report was that it was a very old grave, but on further identifying, the grave that was disturbed was from a gentleman who was born in December of 1968, and died from a drowning incident in Newaygo County in August of ‘98. That made it much more possible to have live descendants.”
The case is closed.
____________________
Please Support Local News
Receive daily MCP and OCP news briefings along with email news alerts for $10 a month. Your contribution will help us to continue to provide you with free local news.
Payment can be made monthly via credit card, bank account, PayPal or Venmo through recurring email invoicing. These payments can be set up for autopay each month.
To sign up, email editor@mediagroup31.com. In the subject line write: Subscription. Please supply your name, email address, mailing address, and phone number (indicate cell phone). We will not share your information with any outside sources. For more than one email address in a household, the cost is $15 per month per email address.
Alternative methods:
- We can send you an invoice for a yearly payment of $120, which you can conveniently pay online or by check. If you are interested in this method, please email editor@mediagroup31.com and we can sign you up. You can also mail a yearly check for $120 to Media Group 31, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454 (please include your email address).
Payment must be made in advance prior to subscription activation.
We appreciate all our readers regardless of whether they choose to continue to access our service for free or with a monthly financial support.
_____
This story and original photography are copyrighted © 2025, all rights reserved by Media Group 31, LLC, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454. No portion of this story or images may be reproduced in any way, including print or broadcast, without expressed written consent.
As the services of Media Group 31, LLC are news services, the information posted within the sites are archivable for public record and historical posterity. For this reason it is the policy and practice of this company to not delete postings. It is the editor’s discretion to update or edit a story when/if new information becomes available. This may be done by editing the posted story or posting a new “follow-up” story. Media Group 31, LLC or any of its agents have the right to make any changes to this policy. Refer to Use Policy for more information.
