Missouri Cemetery Law

Here is the current Missouri Law concerning protection of cemeteries and the consequences of defacing or destroying any part therein:

From the Missouri Revised Statutes -- Chapter 214, Cemeteries, Section 214.131 (passed into law in 1987); Section 214.385; and, 214.455. 

Tombstones, fences, destroying or mutilating in abandoned family or private cemetery, penalty--abandoned or private burying ground, is defined as

214. 131. Every person who shall knowingly destroy, mutilate, disfigure, deface, injure, or remove any tomb, monument or gravestone, or other structure placed in any abandoned family cemetery or private burying ground, or any fence, railing, or other work for the protection or ornamentation of any such cemetery or place of burial of any human being, or tomb, monument, or gravestone, memento, or memorial, or other structure aforesaid, or of any lot within such cemetery is guilty of a class A misdemeanor. 

For the purposes of this section and subsection I of section 214.132, an "abandoned family cemetery" or "private burying ground" shall include those cemeteries or burying grounds which have not been deeded to the public as provided in chapter 214, and in which no body has been interred for at least twenty-five years.

If the operator of any cemetery or another authorized person moves a grave marker, memorial or monument in the cemetery for any reason, the operator or other authorized person shall replace the grave marker, memorial or monument to its original position within a reasonable length of time. 

Source: "History Spotlight: MoSGA Fights to Protect Abandoned Cemeteries." By Martha Henderson, MoSGA Historical Director. Show Me State Genealogical News, Columbia, MO, Spring 2014. Vol. 35, No. 1.