“Heartbreaking:” Parents say their children’s graves were vandalized

One year after losing her three-year-old son, Helen Huckabay told ABC-7 she was heartbroken to find his grave vandalized at the Masonic Cemetery in Las Cruces.

“I wouldn’t wish this upon my worst enemy,” Huckabay said, while holding her two-year-old daughter, Sophie.

The mother of two lost her toddler, Blayne Caballero, in a house fire last year. She said she decorated his grave site with his favorite toys, including his favorite characters from the “Cars” movie.

“There was lots of toys that were broken and missing,” Huckabay said. “Stuff was broken, lights were pulled out of the ground, flowers mangled everywhere.”

When ABC-7 visited the cemetery on Monday, it appeared as though the only sites that had damage were the toddler and infant graves on the west end of the cemetery.

“I was devastated,” said Angelo Gutierrez, who lost his four-month-old son, Jason Blake Gutierrez, last October. “Everything was a mess. It looked like it was vandalized by someone.”

The manager of the cemetery, Michael Ochoa, declined to go on camera and could not confirm if the damage was from vandalism. He said his property has three cameras in the area that were turned away from the children’s graves.

“It appears by the pictures they were vandalized, but there is no witnesses to actually say that’s what happened,” Ochoa said. “We did have some bad weather, so I’m not sure if perhaps the wind or the rain could have stirred something up.”

ABC-7 observed a teddy bear in the broken toys and decorations that appeared to have its head ripped off.

“It seems like nothing is getting resolved,” Gutierrez said. “I just feel there’s no security here for us to know that our loved ones are actually safe.”

The cemetery is not fenced off – one can easily step over a chain that surrounds most of the property.

“Anybody can just walk in here,” Huckabay said. “They’re very rude. They seem like they don’t care about the people here.”