Police were called to an NJ Transit bus terminal in New Jersey Tuesday after a worker found a tombstone with an 8-year-old boy's name on it.
The tombstone was found by a maintenance worker in the NJ Transit bus depot in Nutley. Authorities are looking into which cemetery may be missing a headstone. The name on the tombstone is Max Ferreira, born June 16, 1990, died Sept. 29, 1998.
Nutley detectives are calling local cemeteries to ask them about the tombstone and a police alert was sent to surrounding agencies. Police say the stone may not have been reported missing.
"We've reached out to a number of cemeteries and they're all looking," Nutley Police Det. Sergeant Anthony Montanari said. "They're all trying to help, but to date we haven't been able to find the cemetery where it was taken from."
It's not clear if it's a real headstone. Nutley Police Chief Thomas Strumolo said until authorities can determine how and why it was left at the bus terminal police can "only speculate that it was removed from a human grave."
"If this was the loss of a child, his parents must have been devastated, and to learn that someone would intentionally remove his headstone is unnerving," said Nutley Mayor and Police Director Alphonse Petracco. "I hope that someone can identify where this occurred so that we can return it to where it belongs."