Grave Robbers Ransack Austrian Cemetery, Stealing Jewelry from the Dead

Eerie Silence at Korneuburg Cemetery After String of Grave Robberies

On Wednesday morning, an unsettling quiet hangs over Korneuburg Cemetery. In recent days, the scene was often very different. "Police were everywhere," recalls a town resident who visited her family's grave before Easter.

Overnight, the cemetery became a crime scene: Over the weekend of March 21, a total of 13 mausoleums were broken into. Prised-open tomb lids and drag marks on the floors bear witness to the criminal activity.

An employee of the Korneuburg Municipal Authority discovered the damage—concealed by a long colonnaded walkway—and alerted the police. Authorities are now searching for the as-yet-unknown perpetrators and any traces they may have left behind.

Gold Teeth the Target

Twelve of the affected mausoleums have been opened in recent days with the consent of the families, under police supervision. According to police reports, 40 coffins were damaged. The thieves searched the caskets for burial offerings such as jewelry, watches, and other valuables. A grim detail: gold teeth appear to have been pried from the mouths of the deceased.

"This lack of decency is just incomprehensible," says another visitor, shaking her head. Having read about the incidents, she sympathizes with the families whose graves were violated. "That could just as easily have been my husband's grave or my mother's," she realizes.

A man laying a flower on his late wife's grave for their wedding anniversary minces no words. "There's got to be something seriously wrong with people who do this," he says, tapping his temple.

A Crime as Old as Civilization

Grave robbing dates back to time immemorial. Since the Egyptians began burying their dead with offerings in the 5th millennium BCE, there have been those who sought to profit from them. The lucrative trade in ancient artifacts has led to the repeated destruction of historically significant sites, stripped of their treasures—all for the base motive of financial gain.

Yet the fact that such crimes still occur in the 21st century leaves cemetery visitors stunned.

Investigators are pursuing charges of disturbing the peace of the dead and burglary. Under Austrian law, removing jewelry or other items from a burial site, funeral home, or memorial carries a penalty of up to three months in prison or a fine of up to 180 daily rates.

Lenient Penalties?

Whether the relatively light penalties for such offenses explain why prosecutors' offices have yet to consolidate investigations across multiple crime scenes remains unclear. The disturbing series of break-ins began in Vienna in early 2024, followed by incidents last summer in Lower Austria—near Tulln and Klosterneuburg—as well as in Parndorf, Burgenland.

Multiple Criminal Gangs?

In each case, local police forces handled the investigations. After the most recent incident in Korneuburg just days ago, the district's criminal investigation unit was deployed. "Initially, it wasn't always clear whether anything had been stolen—or what," police sources told our website in response to inquiries. "That's why the State Criminal Investigation Offices were not immediately involved."

So far, no definitive link has been established between the different cemeteries or crime scenes. Authorities suspect that multiple criminal groups are operating simultaneously in eastern Austria. Police also believe the perpetrators may have come from Eastern Europe.

A Herculean Task

All the crimes were committed under cover of darkness—otherwise, the perpetrators would surely have been caught. "Gravestones weighing several hundred kilograms were pushed aside," explains a criminal investigator. "That takes multiple people, along with the right tools and equipment."

So far, the perpetrators have benefited from the fact that the affected areas in cemeteries have either not been monitored by video surveillance or only to a limited extent. The available leads and evidence are described as "meager" overall. In short: Right now, police are groping in the dark over the identity of the criminals, who are said to be acting "beyond every moral rule and boundary," according to one investigator.