Family offers $30G reward in return of woman's body
(left) Family photo of Mattia Filipazzo, who died in 1998. (right) Police investigate after her remains were discovered stolen from a mausoleum in St. Charles Cemetery on August 24, 2010, according to Suffolk police and Filipazzo's family. Credit: WCBS-TV and James Carbone
The family of a Valley Stream woman whose coffin was pulled from her cemetery mausoleum this week is offering a $30,000 reward for the return of her remains.
The body of Mattia Filippazzo, who died in 1998 at the age of 87, was discovered missing after a caretaker at St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale found three mausoleums broken into on Tuesday morning. Filippazzo's coffin was found on the ground, pried open and empty, Suffolk police said.
"We are deeply saddened and disturbed by the taking of our mother and grandmother," said family member Stephano Filippazzo, a Brooklyn attorney, in a statement announcing the reward. "She was an incredible woman who migrated to the United States from Italy because she truly believed in the power of the American dream.
"She was a devoted wife and, together with her husband, they raised their seven children in this country while she worked as a seamstress in a factory," Filippazzo said.
Filippazzo's coffin was the only one disturbed at the cemetery, although police said there was evidence that the people responsible tried to remove other coffins.
No arrests have been made. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 800-220-TIPS.
