Greenville woman says flowers were stolen from mother's casket hours after funeral

GREENVILLE, S.C. (WSPA) – A Greenville woman is pushing for more security in all cemeteries after she told us something very important to her was stolen. On top of that, it didn’t come cheap.

Debra Bishop Galloway sharing with us the beautiful woman her mother was. She told us they were very close.

But she just passed away. Her funeral service was held this week. Galloway said it was beautiful.

That is until she came back to her mom’s grave after getting dinner. She said she placed a fresh flower arrangement on her mother’s grave, only to come back an hour and a half later and the flowers were gone.

“We had cardinals on the top of it and all done in pink, the shades my mother loved,” Galloway said.

“It was just devastating to come and see that this was done on the day of her funeral,” Galloway told 7 News.

Believe it or not, this isn’t the first time this has happened. Her mother’s grave is nestled between some other family. Galloway told us when she has brought flowers for the other headstones in the past, they’ve also disappeared from time to time.

“For 15 years, I would place them on my grandmother’s grave and my father’s grave,” Galloway told us.

And while Galloway is grieving the loss of her mother, she also wants to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.

“You just hope when you come back and visit the graves that they’re here but if not, I’ve just always gone and bought more,” Galloway said.

But down the road, Galloway told us this isn’t going to stop her from showing love for her mother and bringing her favorite shades of pink to her tombstone even if those flowers are fake.

We’ve talked to several local florists who told us this isn’t that uncommon. In fact one said they have heard about these fresh flowers being stolen and turned around to make a profit.