Man caught on hidden camera urinating on ex-wife’s grave 48 years after split

A man has been caught urinating on the grave of his ex-wife almost every day by her horrified children.

The family of Linda Louise Torello used secret cameras to find out who had been defecating on and urinating on their mother’s grave, only to find out it was her ex-husband.

Faeces and urine had been found at her headstone “almost every morning”, according to her family, so they decided to use a hidden camera to capture the culprit.

In the shocking footage, the man, from Bergen County, New Jersey, can be seen getting out of his car, walking over to the headstone and urinating on the headstone in what the family described as a “normal routine”.

The man was briefly married to Ms Torello, who died from cancer at the age of 66 in 2017, but the couple divorced in 1974 and they had not been in contact since 1976. She is buried at a cemetery at Tappan Reformed Church in Orangetown, New York.

It is believed that the relationship broke down due to a fallout when Ms Torello became pregnant and the man did not want responsibility for the child, her children told the Daily Voice.

‘It’s breaking my heart’

Ms Torello’s son, Michael Murphy, 43, posted the incriminating video of the man on Facebook and wrote: “THIS IS BREAKING MY HEART.

"A man from Bergen county New Jersey has been leaving bags of poo and p*****g on my mother’s tombstone almost every morning like a ‘normal routine’ assisted by his wife also.

"We have weeks and months of evidence. It has been reported to the police and the news outlets. No one in my family has had contact with him since 1976 or so.

"How he found my mothers grave site we are not sure. But this stems back to a problem almost 50 years ago. Pray for us thank you and please share this!!!"

Mr Murphy and his sister Renee Eichler Barragan gained permission from Tappan Reformed Church to use the hidden cameras to find the offender, and also discovered that the man’s wife usually accompanied him on his morning visits to the grave at around 6.15am.

The footage was recorded on Mr Murphy’s phone on 18 September, and he said he had evidence of the man visiting the grave four days in a row.

Mr Murphy said local police were called but the Orangetown, New York police said there was nothing they could do because there were no specific threats of physical violence.

He is now hoping to take the complaint to a judge as New York State law states cemetery desecration is only a crime if damages are in excess of $250 (£231.28).

Mr Murphy believes he has surpassed that threshold after "paying a hazmat company to remove all her decorations that are soaked in urine and have the headstone properly cleaned and some of grass ripped up and replaced, plus the permits to let these companies enter the cemetery", he told the Daily Voice.