Seventeen bronze name plaques worth about $25,000 disappeared from a Phoenix cemetery in August, and police believe the same crew — or at least the same black Jeep Grand Cherokee — may be responsible for a second burglary at a nearby church less than two weeks later. Detectives are now asking the public to help identify the vehicle, which has a broken reverse light, a temporary license plate, and aftermarket silver rims.
According to Arizona's Family, unknown suspects entered a cemetery near 48th and Holly Streets on August 12 and removed the 17 bronze plaques, according to Phoenix police. Roughly two weeks later, on August 26, two suspects allegedly broke into a nearby church at 48th Street and Thomas Road and stole bronze and copper items, police allege. Phoenix police detectives are investigating both burglaries and have asked the community to help identify the vehicle believed to be involved, releasing photos of the Jeep in the East Camelback area.
A Vehicle With Distinctive Clues
The black Jeep Grand Cherokee spotted near the church has a temporary license plate, aftermarket silver rims, a roof rack, and a broken rear reverse light on the driver's side, per the report. Those details are the clearest lead investigators have released publicly so far, and they're hoping someone in the Camelback East neighborhood recognizes the vehicle from a driveway, a parking lot, or a scrap yard visit.
Both burglaries happened within blocks of each other. As reported by KTAR News, the cemetery burglary occurred near 48th Street and McDowell Road, while the church burglary took place a short distance away near 52nd Street and Thomas Road, underscoring how localized the two crimes were within the same stretch of East Phoenix.
A Historic Cemetery Loses Pieces of Its Past
The cemetery targeted in the theft is widely believed to be St. Francis Catholic Cemetery at 2033 N. 48th Street, one of Phoenix's oldest burial grounds. Established in 1897, the cemetery spans 52 acres and holds more than 34,000 interments, according to the Diocese of Phoenix Catholic Cemeteries, including many of the city's early pioneers and veterans. Losing bronze name plaques from a site with that kind of history isn't just a property crime — it strips identifying markers from graves that have stood for generations.
Under Arizona law, that distinction matters. Arizona Revised Statutes § 13-1604 classifies intentionally defacing, damaging, or tampering with places of worship, cemeteries, or grave markers as aggravated criminal damage, a felony that carries state prison time scaled to the dollar value of the damage, according to the Arizona Law Group. That means whoever is responsible for the plaque theft and the church break-in could be facing more serious charges than a typical burglary case.
Why Scrap Yards Are Central to the Investigation
Bronze and copper theft from cemeteries and churches is often driven by simple resale math. Recycled scrap bronze fetches roughly $2.50 per pound and scrap copper around $3.00 per pound, according to reporting on cemetery memorial thefts relayed by Hoodline, which helps explain why heavy plaques and metal fixtures are such consistent targets for thieves looking for a quick payout.
Arizona has built regulatory hurdles specifically to make it harder to unload stolen metal. Licensed scrap dealers are required under Arizona Revised Statutes § 44-1644 to submit electronic records of non-ferrous metal receipts to the Arizona Department of Public Safety within 24 hours. Separately, statutes § 44-1642 and § 44-1642.01 require dealers to collect thumbprints, government IDs, photos of the materials, and vehicle information from sellers, per iScrap App's summary of Arizona law, and they bar dealers from paying cash on the spot — payment instead comes as a non-transferable check mailed to the seller's home address. The Arizona Department of Public Safety also runs a statewide Scrap Metal Theft Database that lets local police cross-reference stolen item reports against daily scrap yard transaction filings, giving detectives a tool to trace where stolen bronze may surface.
Part of a Wider Pattern
The Camelback East burglaries fit into a broader regional and national trend. In September 2024, a four-foot bronze statue valued at $20,000 was stolen overnight from Mountain View Funeral Home and Cemetery in nearby Mesa, according to FOX 10 Phoenix. Nationally, cemetery bronze thefts have surged this summer, with 80 bronze grave vases stolen from a cemetery in Hillsboro, Oregon, and more than 100 bronze memorial vases worth $100,000 taken from a cemetery in Waldorf, Maryland, both reported by Hoodline in recent months.
How to Help
Anyone with information on the burglaries or the black Jeep Grand Cherokee is asked to contact the Phoenix Police Department or Silent Witness. The Silent Witness program offers anonymous cash rewards of up to $1,000 for tips leading to an arrest or indictment in non-drug felony cases, reachable at 480-WITNESS, with Spanish speakers able to call 480-TESTIGO. Detectives have not said whether they've traced any of the stolen bronze to a specific scrap yard, or confirmed whether the same Jeep was used in both incidents — questions that remain open as the investigation continues.
