Man pleads guilty in theft of body parts from cemetery

WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. — A man pleaded guilty to three counts last week in connection with the theft of body parts from a mausoleum at Crown Hill Cemetery in October 2023, according to court documents.

John Belknap, 47, pleaded guilty Nov. 6 to abuse of a corpse, criminal mischief and carrying a concealed weapon. Other charges were dismissed as part of the plea agreement. 

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said Belknap was arrested Oct. 24, 2023. 

The sheriff’s office said the morning of Oct. 11, 2023, deputies were called to Crown Hill Cemetery to investigate damage to a mausoleum. Deputies found the front of the private mausoleum was severely damaged, as were the crypt and casket inside.

The sheriff’s office said it appeared someone had entered the cemetery overnight, broke into the crypt and gained access to the casket, which contained the remains of a person who died in 1919.

The casket had been pried open and parts of the body inside were removed, the sheriff’s office said. The sheriff’s office said there were three crypts in the mausoleum, but only one was disturbed.

They said there did not appear to be a relationship between the suspect and the people who were entombed in the mausoleum. 

According to the sheriff’s office, the same crypt was broken into, and the same person’s remains taken, in 2000. The remains were recovered, put back in the casket, and re-shuttered in 2002. The sheriff’s office said that case was unrelated to this one.

Belknap is set to be sentenced Dec. 9.