Angels Stolen From Headstones Of Mother & Daughter In Muskogee County

By Lacie Lowry, The News On 6

MUSKOGEE COUNTY -- An eastern Oklahoma family is reliving a tragedy. Two loved ones died within months of each other and now someone has desecrated their final resting place.

The family had spent hundreds of dollars adorning the headstones. Within a week of putting it up, something was missing.

Taft Cemetery sits peacefully in Muskogee County. What happened there has given the family unrest.

"I just wondered who would do such a thing," said Stella Childers, a relative.

Childers never got to see the completed headstones for her sister and niece. Someone stole the two golden-plated angels that once sat there before she had the chance to see them.

"I know my sister is not there. She's in heaven. But this was where her earthly vehicle was," said Childers.

Millicent Charles died of a heart condition in 2005 and four months later, daughter Nikia died in a car accident.

Relatives say both women had style, big personalities and loved life. That's why their headstones were so extravagant.

"I think if my sister and my niece were alive, they would just love it. It was their lifestyle, something lavish like this, and they lived the life," said Marianne Ball, a relative.

Nikia's father saved for nearly five years to pay for the fancy headstones. The granite markers finally went up in late July with the $1,400 gold angels in place. 

One week later -- the angels were gone.

"It's such a beautiful monument to her and then for someone to take away from the beauty that my brother-in-law put so much effort into planning, that hurts," said Childers. 

The family has a long history with Taft Cemetery. They've never experienced anything like this before.

"It means a lot to me because most of my relatives are buried out here. It's just a sacred ground for us," said Ball.

The Muskogee County Sheriff's office is investigating the theft.