A 39-year-old would be grave robber has been placed under arrest and charged with “felony theft from person or corpse” after confessing to stealing a vintage Fender Telecaster literally from the cold dead hands of a recently deceased Army veteran.
Steven Conard, who was a grounds keeper at the Allouez Catholic Cemetery in Wisconsin, was confronted at his home by police after a co-worker dobbed in him after noticing the guitar was missing from the casket. Unbelievably Conard had openly plotted to steal the guitar to co-workers whilst the funeral for the man continued in another room.
According to The Smoking Gun on 19th September a funeral director told Conard and another cemetery worker, James Lang, that “a guitar was in the casket with Randall’s body and the family wanted to verify that it was still there prior to the casket being placed in the burial chamber.”
The funeral director then left to rejoin the funeral party at which point Conard opened the casket remarking “That’s a Telly, a really expensive guitar. I have to have that guitar. It’s too expensive to be in a crypt.” Conard then asked Lang “if he would say anything if he took the guitar” to which Lang replied he would.
Lang checked the coffin twice before the burial. When he checked for a second time the guitar was missing and he contacted his supervisor who called the cops.
One of the songs of the deceased, William Jourdan, told investigators that his father had played guitar for more than 40 years “and that this guitar was his father’s pride and joy.” Cops added that, “William stated Randall told everyone that he wanted to be buried with the guitar.”
Conard remains locked up awaiting a date in court to answer the charges against him. “This isn’t something I normally do,” Conard said, according to a Circuit Court criminal complaint. “I just have a respect for fine musical instruments.””
