Aurora Gravedigger Caught Moving Body Of 19th-Century Woman: Cops

AURORA, IL -- An Aurora man faces charges of desecrating human remains after police say he was caught digging up a grave and trying to move a body in a West Aurora Cemetery Thursday. Cemetery workers told police that Jeremy Rivers, 33, told them he was moving the body of Victoria E. Vittetow at the request of her family.

Vittetow's headstone said she was born in 1866, police say.

Police say they got a call around 5:30 p.m. to report a man who was digging a grave at the cemetery at 607 Wilder St. An employee of the cemetery told police that Rivers left the scene when they questioned him about the body he was trying to exhume.

According to police, it does not appear that Rivers took any of Vittetow's remains, but her body was "disturbed" by Rivers. Police say they took Rivers into custody at his home shortly after and that he had no explanation for why he was digging up Vittetow's body and no apparent connection to the grave site.