SAN ANTONIO – One small plot in Elmendorf’s City Cemetery has brought a tiny bit of comfort to Ann Martinez and her family.
It is the site where they buried her nephew, Larry Alvarez-Perez, after his murder in December 2020.
“We come. We sit here. We talk to him. I come. I cry. I talk,” Martinez said.
The 18-year-old was shot dead during an altercation in San Antonio.
Relatives had hoped he would rest in peace, but they say someone has been making that impossible by repeatedly vandalizing his grave.
“Larry’s gravesite has been urinated on. Larry’s gravesite has been vandalized where we’ve had other things that have been broken,” Martinez said.
Elmendorf’s police chief, Marco Pena, confirmed the ongoing damage, adding that someone also fired gunshots at the gravesite.
However, what has hurt the family most is what happened most recently, when someone stole the headstone from Larry’s grave.
“Our first reaction was, ‘Who the hell would have done this?” Martinez said.
However, she said she quickly began to suspect this is all somehow related to her nephew’s murder.
Police also believe these are targeted acts.
Pena said no other gravesites in the cemetery have been vandalized.
“What more do they want, you know? Let him rest,” Martinez said. “Is he coming out bothering you? Is he haunting you?”
Martinez believes the headstone may have been stolen the weekend of May 11, hours after her family celebrated what would have been Larry’s 22nd birthday.
Pena said the theft is under investigation, and officers are following up on several leads.