DINWIDDIE COUNTY, Va. -- Two people have been arrested in the theft of a 100-year-old gate from a Dinwiddie County Cemetery. However, the arrests have tipped off investigators onto additional ongoing mysteries.
A single phone call from a business gave investigators the lead they needed to close the case of the stolen gate.
"They saw these gates on the news and they decided to do the right thing and called us and a lot of times that's all we need, a direction to go in," Sheriff D.T. Adams with the Dinwiddie County Sheriff's Office said.
Last week, CBS6 reported a stolen gate from Butterwood United Methodist Church Cemetery. It was also discovered that a second Dinwiddie County church, Christian Believers, also had a gate stolen.
Investigators arrested 48-year-old Cory Michael Turner and 43-year-old Matthew Anthony Rushmore Mills. Investigators charged both of the Colonial Heights men with one count of Felony Receiving and Concealing Stolen Property.
The cost for the Prosise family to pay for a new version of their missing gate was prohibitive, so its recovery is considered a blessing by the family.
"The monetary value of the gate is not as much as important as the fact that it's been here for over 100 years and it's our families," John Prosise said.
However, the arrests and recovery of the two gates brought more mysteries along with them, all starting with something a business told detectives.
"They actually showed us other pieces of property that had been turned in by these individuals," Lt. David Gunn with the Dinwiddie County Sheriff's Office said.
Now the Dinwiddie Sheriff's Office is asking members of the public, especially those who are connected to cemeteries in rural areas, to start speaking out.
"Go check your cemeteries, if anything is stolen or you're missing anything, don't hesitate to report it," Adams said.
If you recognize the four posts or wrought iron gate in the pictures above, you are asked to contact the Dinwiddie County Sheriff's Office.
