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.
