LOS ANGELES — Thieves took and damaged more than a dozen headstones from a historic cemetery in Compton that represents the final resting place for hundreds of veterans, including several Civil War Union soldiers, according to the owner.

The thefts occurred at Woodlawn Celestial Gardens, one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles County. It is located between residential homes and commercial buildings in Compton, not far from the 91 Freeway.

Celestinia Bishop, the owner, said the thefts were discovered Thursday but she said she believes the thieves broke into the cemetery the night before and took the headstones for the bronze and copper plaques. Replacing them, she said, can cost up to nearly $4,000.

It has been especially tough for Bishop to see the current state of the cemetery, where her mother and sister were buried after they were killed in South L.A. more than 40 years ago. It was her connection to the cemetery that led her to fight to preserve the historic graveyard.

Marvis Jackson, 57, who volunteers as a maintenance worker, said he arrived at the cemetery in the morning and noticed a hole in the chain-link fence that sits along an alley off Central Avenue, near Greenleaf Boulevard. Shortly after, he said, he noticed the headstones missing.

“It’s sickening,” he said while repairing the fence. “Those people, they’re deceased and resting in peace, and you got these idiots doing these things.”

Michael Bravo, 50, who lives next to the cemetery, said he’s seen young people park in the alley and has seen them go into Lincoln Memorial Park, another cemetery that sits across the street and lies within the city of Carson. But he did not hear anything the night when the thefts are believed to have occurred.

Among the 26,000 or so people buried at the cemetery is Griffith Dickenson Compton, considered the founder of the city; Francis Townsend, who inspired the Social Security Act of 1935; and Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter, a founding member of the Southern California chapter of the Black Panther Party.

Also at rest there are more than 900 veterans, including 17 unidentified Civil War soldiers from the Union Army.

The cemetery is open only for visits and is no longer licensed to perform burials or disinterments, according to the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau, the state’s regulatory agency,

Bishop said it was not the first time thieves have broken into the cemetery. She said more than a year ago, thieves stole more than 700 bronze plaques from several memorial walls and headstones. She said there’s no money to replace the stolen items.

“I’m mentally exhausted,” Bishop said as she gazed at the row of craters where the headstones once rested.

She said she’s been asking for help from the city of Compton and the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau. She’s also put hundreds of thousands of dollars of her own money into the cemetery with little to no outside support. City officials have said there’s little they can do to help because the cemetery is privately owned.

The thefts are certainly another financial blow to the small cemetery that has undergone years of neglect and mismanagement.

The cemetery temporarily shut down in 2000 when, in response to a complaint, state investigators showed up and found bone fragments and casket shards strewn on the grounds. They would later discover that graves had been moved and combined. The owner at the time paid $100,000 to avoid criminal prosecution.

A new owner took over the property in 2011, but the problems persisted, prompting the state attorney general to file a lawsuit against the owner in 2019. The lawsuit alleged that the owner failed to pay citations related to a series of violations issued by the state for failing to provide grave site location services to families, failure to halt interments when told so by the state and failing to maintain the cemetery. State investigators, the lawsuit alleges, found that the grass was brown, weeds and dirt covered markers and water spigots were inoperable. The owner also owed more than $800,000 in taxes.

The Los Angeles County Treasurer and Tax Collector did not immediately respond to questions about the unpaid taxes, but county tax records showed one payment made in 2022 for $736.

The lawsuit forced the owner to hand over the property to Bishop, who started a nonprofit, One Section at a Time, to run the cemetery with the help of volunteers and a small staff. Bishop said she and her partner spent $230,000 on a new irrigation system, cleaning equipment, trash removal and staff salaries. She later launched a second nonprofit, which is now the name of the cemetery — Woodlawn Celestial Gardens.

But now she’s facing the same struggles over maintaining the cemetery as the previous owner. Although mostly kept clean, the grass that was once green four years ago is now dry and brown, and the ground is cracked from the lack of water. Some of the markers are also covered in dirt or dry leaves.

Bishop said the well they had been using to water the grass had dried up and the volunteers who had initially helped breathe life to the cemetery started to leave.

On a recent hot afternoon, Bishop was examining the sites of the missing tombstones when she was approached by three people who found their way into the cemetery.

The visitors told her they were there to visit the grave sites of their grandparents and noticed the gates were rarely open. That prompted Bishop to go on the defense, explaining all of the work she and others have put into keeping the cemetery from falling further into disrepair.

“I’m advocating for everybody’s families, but nobody is advocating for the work we do here,” she told them.

Renee Bogosian, 56, and her siblings listened as Bishop slowly broke into tears, unaware that what she was expressing wasn’t just frustration about the problems with the cemetery but the heartache in her own life.

“I lost my son in November,” she told the group. “A long time ago, he would hop this gate with me to go visit my mother, my sisters and grandmother.”

The stolen headstones only add to the loss of her son.

“Before I used to be able to fix (the cemetery), but I can’t even fix me,” she said. “I can’t keep giving it my all if I don’t have the families supporting me, I need you all with me.”

The group thanked her for the work she had been doing, they offered to help her when she needed it and offered to pray for her. On the long road that cuts into the cemetery, they stood together, praying under the hot sun.

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