COLEBROOK, N.H. — Three people, including a daughter, are accused of ransacking the grave of a New Hampshire businessman in a search for his “real will,” only to find a pack of cigarettes in his hand.
The businessman, Eddie Nash, died of a heart attack in 2004 at age 68. His cement vault at the Colebrook Village Cemetery was found cracked last month, the casket opened and his remains searched through. The body was left intact.
An arrest affidavit names Ginette Dowse, of Clarkesville, 71; Michael Day, of Columbia, 37; and Nash’s daughter, Melanie Lynch, of Merrimack, 52, who also goes by Melanie Nash.
Lynch had made comments about her father being buried with “the real will,” a police affidavit said.
So Dowse gave the other two a ride to the cemetery the night of May 11, the affidavit said. She told police Lynch and Day dug up the grave and destroyed the concrete vault and metal casket.
Dowse said when she returned several hours later to pick them up, Lynch told her she found nothing and “it was not as bad as she thought it was going to be,” according to the affidavit. She told Dowse the next day that her father had a pack of cigarettes in his hand.
Day, who was arrested Tuesday, was jailed on charges of interference with a cemetery and criminal mischief. He’s scheduled for a probable cause hearing June 19. His lawyer didn’t immediately return a phone call seeking comment Thursday.
It was not immediately known whether Dowse and Lynch, who are out on bail, had lawyers. They filed paperwork seeking public defenders.
Nash started a heavy equipment business in 1979, still run by his family. He’s been reburied at a cost of several thousand dollars.