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A Payson man was behind bars Tuesday, being held on multiple felony counts of criminal mischief after going on a delusional rampage at the Utah County town's cemetery, police say.
Police Lt. Bill Wright said the 36-year-old man, convinced that the headstones and monuments atop several graves were keeping the dead from going to heaven, decided to topple, break up or remove them this past weekend.
Police were called to the Payson City Cemetery about noon Sunday after the damage was discovered.
"They found multiple headstones destroyed or moved off their pedestals, some of them even thrown over a fence and a couple taken across the road and placed under a tree," Wright said.
Officers found a cellphone at the scene that they traced to the suspect. When they arrived at his home Monday night, he admitted to the acts — and was reportedly astounded when placed under arrest.
"Obviously, this gentleman is having some mental issues. He believed he was doing the deceased a favor, taking all that weight off them and helping them have an easier time to be resurrected," Wright said.
Police said the suspect had made his cemetery raid based on that general assumption, not specifically related to either this coming weekend's LDS General Conference or Easter Sunday.
In addition to the criminal mischief charges, the man was being held on suspicion of trespassing and resisting arrest.
Damages still were being assessed, but in some cases the monuments and headstones, being more than a century old, are probably irreplaceable, Wright said.
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