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St. Martin Parish mother wants answers following grave vandalism

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Posted at 9:17 PM, May 28, 2021
and last updated 2021-05-28 23:37:53-04

A St. Martin Parish mother wants answers after her son's grave was vandalized.

The grave is now cleaned up, but some red paint is still visible on the headstone. The mother is offering a reward for any information on who's responsible.

"There is still a little bit in the cross in the head stone that needs to be more, clean more details,” said Sheila Gardner.

Paint residue still remains on Derrick Barras' grave. It's been 10 and a half months since the 21-year-old took his own life.

"We are still in the very early stages of grief and then to have this, it was just unbelievable. We just cannot imagine what would make somebody do that,” said Gardner.

Gardner says the vandalism could have happened in between the time she left the St. Elizabeth Cemetery on Wednesday afternoon and when she returned around the same time on Thursday.

"There was one [person] that said some very rude things after Derrick had passed away and there's another one that he didn't get along with Derrick and apparently he spray-painted his girlfriend's house red about two weeks ago. We are gathering information on those two and will let the officers handle it,” said Gardner.

Gardner says over a dozen volunteers came to help clean up her son's grave. They plan to restore the entire grave as police continue their investigation.

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