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Cross Stolen From Soldier’s Gravesite

Ella King placed the solar light cross on her nephew's gravesite about a week before Easter.

King thought the cross, which absorbs the sunlight during the day so it can shine brightly at night, was a fitting tribute to her nephew, Army Cpl. Pruitt Rainey, who was killed July 13, 2008, during an attack by Afghan insurgents at an Army post near the Pakistani border. Rainey, who was from Haw River, was 22.

King never expected that anyone would remove the cross from Rainey's grave at Bethlehem Christian Church cemetery on Altamahaw Church Road. But when she went back to the cemetery the Monday after Easter, the white cross that glowed at night was gone.

King's first thought was that a family member removed it, but after checking with family, she realized something else happened. Rainey's grandmother put flowers on his grave the day before Easter. King believes someone took the cross between April 3 and April 5.

"I just felt like my heart was broke," she said through tears. "To think that someone could stoop so low as to steal off of a grave, especially his. He was fighting for our country. It just breaks my heart."

Since Easter, King put a crystal angel on her nephew's grave. It also disappeared. She recently filed a report with the Alamance County Sheriff's Department. But unless authorities can actually catch someone in the act or can gather enough evidence to charge someone with larceny, there isn't a whole lot they can do.

Randy Jones, Sheriff's Department spokesman, said that for years people have reported that flowers have been taken from gravesites throughout Burlington and the county. It's not an "uncommon complaint," he said, adding that it is handled like a larceny and wouldn't be considered grave tampering.

King just wants people to know that even a soldier's gravesite isn't immune to theft.

"I would just like the people to be made aware that there are some people who don't care where they get what they are after," King said. "They'd just as soon steal from a grave as they would a store."

King is convinced the alleged thief didn't read the words on her nephew's tombstone: "Greater love has no man than this that he lay down his life for his friends. Warrior."

"I don't think they even bothered to see where they were getting it from," she said.

King's hope was to leave the cross in place indefinitely.

"I put one on my daddy's grave way out in Caswell County, and it's still there," she said."I put it there almost 15 years ago. I just change the batteries in it when they burn out so it will continue to light up."

Rainey's family continues to grieve his loss but also find comfort in their memories.

"He still remains in our heart," King said. "He always will be. He was that kind of young man. He thought of other people before he thought of himself."

Despite the recent thefts, King said she can't ignore her nephew's grave, especially with Memorial Day coming up.

She plans to put a flower arrangement with American flags in it on the site this week.

"I'm retired and on Social Security, but I have great love for him," she said. "He is not in that grave. He's in heaven where he should be, but that's not going to stop me from putting stuff on there."