Stolen Angels Returned To Muskogee County Cemetery

By Lacie Lowry, The News On 6

MUSKOGEE COUNTY, OK -- A Muskogee family made an urgent plea to the public after someone stole two angels from the headstones of their loved ones. 

The family says thanks to a News On 6 report, those angels are back in their place at Taft Cemetery in Muskogee County.

8/8/2010  Related Story: Angels Stolen From Headstones Of Mother & Daughter In Muskogee County

The family of Millicent and Nikia Charles is relieved.

"I never thought that I would ever see these angels," said Stella Childers, a relative.

One week after Stella Childers and Marianne Ball showed The News On 6 how someone stole two gold-plated angels from their loved ones' headstones, they got a phone call from city hall.

"She said she had good news for me, that the angels came back," Childers said.

Whoever stole the angels, which cost $700 each, had a change of heart. Perhaps it was the story of the two women who are buried there. Millicent died of a heart condition in 2005 and four months later, daughter Nikia died in a car accident.

"I think that that changed them and made them realize that this was something really bad and they were hurting other people," said Marianne Ball, a relative.

The angels were only up for a week before they disappeared. Sunday was the first time Childers and Ball saw the completed headstones for their sister and niece.

"I feel completion," said Ball. "Those angels were their angels watching over them and it's just beautiful."

The angels are better secured this time around. The family hopes no one ever desecrates the final resting place of Millicent and Nikia again.

"I still feel terrible about the loss of them. That's something that never goes away," said Childers. "But I just feel like if they are any where looking, they are happy about it."

The family doesn't know who stole the angels. The Muskogee County Sheriff's Office was investigating, but never named a suspect.

The News On 6 spoke with deputies Sunday. They say since the angels were returned without damage, they will close the case.