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By ANTHONY McCARTNEY The Tampa Tribune
TAMPA - Stevie R. Dale rested in peace for nearly three decades, interred in a white marble vault his family bought to hold his body two years after his death.
That was until late Wednesday or early Thursday, when someone pried the 600-pound marble top off his gravesite, pulled out his tiny casket and stole his body.
By late Thursday, Stevie’s body had not been found. Tampa police continued their search for the person or people who stole the 6-year-old’s remains.
A detective informed Stevie’s mother of the theft Thursday afternoon. Mattie Lee Daniels sat on her back porch in the evening, speaking sorrowfully with family, neighbors and her pastor.
The theft was a fresh wound for Daniels, who lost her son May 2, 1975, when he was struck and killed by a car near Lockhart Elementary School.
The man who hit him, Willie Russell Jr., prayed nearby as paramedics tried to revive Stevie, according to Tribune archives.
Stevie was the youngest of five children at the time.
His family buried him at Memorial Park Cemetery. Two years after his death, Stevie’s family had saved enough for an above-ground vault that bore a simple message:
“Gone but not forgotten / We love you Stevie / but God loves you best.”
Above it all, near the lid, is a small picture of Stevie’s gap-toothed smile.
His resting place, off a simple dirt road and beneath a sprawling oak tree, is toward the middle of the cemetery but within sight of North 22nd Street.
By evening, police had finished processing the scene, returning his casket and the heavy marble lid to his vault.
Police spokesman Larry McKinnon said police found footprints, handprints and fingerprints, but they had no motive.
The thief or thieves took most of his remains, McKinnon said, leaving only a few bones in his casket, which workers found open next to the vault about 10:30 a.m.
McKinnon, who recently retired after 25 years as a patrol officer, said he had never heard of anyone stealing a child’s body in Tampa. “To desecrate this child’s grave is unspeakable,” he said.
In roughly 15 years, there have been at least three grave robberies in Hillsborough County, all of adult corpses.
Jeffery Singletary, a pastor at Idlewild Baptist Church Central, helped console Daniels and Stevie’s other relatives Thursday evening.
Singletary said the family was struggling to understand who would take Stevie’s body and why. “There was a time in our society when dying was sacred,” he said.
He said the family would move on, though, and in the next few days likely will hold a service to reconsecrate Stevie’s grave.
He told them that as Christians, they should believe that one day Stevie will have a new body. The one the thieves stole, he said, could feel no more pain.
“They did not harm Stevie,” he said. “He’s always OK. He’s with the Lord.”
OTHER THEFTS
No grave robberies have been reported recently at Memorial Park Cemetery, but since 1990 there have three reported robberies elsewhere in Hillsborough County.
1992: Four teenagers and a 20-year-old plead guilty to the theft of a woman’s skull from the grave of Nancy Jones in Garden of Peace cemetery in Plant City.
2005: The remains of William J.M. Clark and Winona Hall are unearthed at Orange Hill Cemetery in Tampa.
Research by Michael Messano; Source: Tribune archives
Reporter Anthony McCartney can be reached at (813) 259-7616 or amccartney@tampatrib.com.
Zoe-zombies? Where is your mind at?
My heart goes out to this family...Why would someone do this? That is morbid thing to do, let him rest!!!
I live near where this occurred and have noticed so many more problems and crimes in the last six months. Graffiti has sprung up o private and public areas, robbery and drugs are rampant. The police presence, that was so evident a year ago, has dwindled to almost nothing and when someone calls to report a drug house or a problem we are told “there isn’t much we can really doâ€. Some people in this area were so optimistic that the area could get better…I am not one of them any longer.
This definetly has the makings of an occult presence either brujeria, santeria,or voodoo. also my prays go out to the family, may they get their child back unmolested. that means in one pease for those of you in rio linda.
And to the idiots who think there funny regarding this situation ie:zombies,golf courses and parking lots I guess you have never had to bury a loved one before you sick bastards. 
MY HEARTFELT CONCERN FOR THE PARENTS OF THIS LITTLE ANGLE. I WANT YOU TO KNOW I COULD SEE THE DEVASTATION ON THE FAMILY PASTOR. I TO AM VERY DEVASTATED, JUST TO HEAR WHAT A HORRIBLE AND UNTHINKABLE THING TO DO TO ANY PERSON, ESPECIALLY A LITTLE BOY WHO WAS LOST SO TRAGICALLY. HIS BONES MY BE MISSING HOWEVER HIS SOUL IS WITH GOD. MY LOVE & PRAYER TO ALL HIS FAMILY. KAREN
Zoe -Big foot has been reported too. Also nothing new. The zombie theory is a bit sci-fi channel don’t you think. Satanic ritual probably. Zombies, I think not. Sick, misguided, insensitve, goin to jail and then on to hell cockroaches. Yes. Zombies, No.
Has anyone considered the possiblity that this is the work of the undead? Zombies have been reported thoughout the ages, and are nothing new. They have been scientificly proven to exist. The Zombie Hypothesis, would also explain a lot of curious elements to recent stories of “Aligator Attacks”. Florida’s number one sourse of revenue is tourism. If visitors knew that they could be eaten by the living dead, then why would they come to town? Govenor Bush should appoint a panel to study this…
What the hell is wrong with people? These sick minded people stealing the remains of a child. Who ever has done this may their soul see no peace, may their hearts be trouble with pain. May their guilt eat at their soul.
The bible states that in the end times the world will wax worse and worse. I praise God that this little boy has christian parents, and let’s not forget the original story. The man that hit him in 1975 was on his knees praying for this young boy. God is in this situation, and the thieves will be found out, and his body will be put back where it belongs. I pray that the God will be glorified in this, and that the grave robbers will be saved!
Jeff- The report is about a grave robbery. The death of the child is a part of the story. This is very news worthy because it affects residents of our city who have been victimized. How about a little sensitvity. You should also be thanlful it’s not you having to go through this.
What a terrible thing. Mrs. Daniels is a woman of faith. And through faith she knows that Stevie is safe with God. In a letter from St. Augustin, he speaks of standing at his mothers death bed with his brother. His mother tells them “Bury my body where you will, but pray for my spirit at the altar of the lord”. Good always wins over evil. Always. Mrs. Daniels family and friends must continue to pray for Stevie and know that the community is outraged over this. But Stevie is with God. And whoever did this terrible thing will ultimately have to face God. And maybe Stevie. God is forgiving, but not without justice.
Cemetaries and golf courses are complete wastes of space. I say build more shopping malls, Starbucks and parking lots.
sounds like brujeria or santeria to me
You have got to be kidding me!!! What is this world coming to? Its bad enough when you can’t rest in peace in your home, now you can’t rest in peace in the grave. Whoever did this, VENGEANCE IS MINE, SAYS THE LORD.
Somethings up with this.Why would anybody go through the trouble of removing a 600lbs marble top?
We are to respect both the living and the deceased, so where are the morals for the person/s that committed such a horrific act? Serious intervention is needed for whoever did it! May God bless the soul of that innocent child and his family.
what the heck is the world coming to?
Geez guys..........Thanks for the intense reporting on this younsters time of..death...31years ago...???
there is very little that surprises me nor shocks me anymore. what a terrible shape the world is in today that even death cannot escape the insanity.
now that is a sick mind of someone who needs serious medical help
What the heck is wrong with people?
How sad, sick and scary!
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Posted by Jennifer Gove, Maine on 06/30 at 04:20 PM
I am so sad for his family. they are in my prayers :(