Man arrested after he allegedly destroyed an infant’s grave from 1982, officials say

CABELL COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ/Gray News) - A man in West Virginia was arrested after he allegedly desecrated an infant’s grave at a cemetery, according to authorities.

According to the Cabell County Sheriff’s Office, Matthew Fortner, 49, was arrested on Wednesday.

Investigators were called to Baylous Cemetery on Hickory Ridge Road on Thursday, March 27.

A family visiting a loved one’s grave at the cemetery made the discovery.

Investigators believe the corpse is that of a baby boy who was a few days old at the time he was buried.

The child passed away in 1982, WSAZ reported.

According to the criminal complaint, Fortner is employed as a grave digger at the Baylous Cemetery.

The complaint states that Fortner hit the infant’s casket while digging up a plot for another burial.

According to the criminal complaint, pieces of the casket found inside the grave match those of the broken casket that was found.

The corpse was taken to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Charleston.

Fortner has been charged with the disinterment or displacement of a dead body or damage to a cemetery or graveyard.

His bond has been set at $105,000.

The sheriff says they have been in contact with family members of that baby.

This isn’t Fortner’s first time with the law.

Fortner’s criminal history included a murder charge in 1997.

He pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to life with mercy in prison in 1999.

Fortner was later paroled in 2007 and released in February 2008.

The murder charge was set aside in 2006, when he was sentenced to attempted first-degree robbery with credit for his time served.