Man says grandmother’s gravestone disappeared from Reykjavík cemetery

Guðlaugur Ottesen Karlsson says his grandmother’s gravestone disappeared from Fossvogskirkjugarður, a cemetery in Reykjavík, sometime in the past two to three weeks, according to mbl.is.

In a Facebook post, Guðlaugur appealed to anyone who had seen the stone or had information about it to contact him or the police.

He said the stone was not in its proper place and that he had received clues about who may have removed it. If the matter was not resolved on Monday, he said he would report it to the police on Tuesday.

“The stone is gone, but we have received certain indications of who removed it,” Guðlaugur told mbl.is.

Ingvar Stefánsson, manager of Fossvogskirkjugarður, said no one at the cemetery knew of a report concerning a missing gravestone. He added that he was not aware of an entire gravestone ever having been stolen there, although stones had previously been desecrated or vandalised.

Memorial stones are generally the responsibility of relatives, Ingvar said. It is not uncommon for stones to be removed and a name added to them, he added. Fossvogskirkjugarður has more than 100,000 graves.