The caretaker at Elmwood Cemetery in Bethlehem was doing his spring cleaning, trimming the trees, cleaning the fountain and checking up on his headstones.
A granite monument. A veteran’s bronze marker.
Wait, a wooden cross on the ground?
That bundle of sticks, flanked by two mini U.S. flags, was a clear outlier among the plots of the Route 9W graveyard’s typical clients: families, war veterans and area residents dating back to the 18th century. The replaced sod made it clear to the caretaker the little grave was a recent, and unwelcome, addition.
“They didn’t know what it was,” said James Rexford, deputy chief of Bethlehem Police, which responded to the cemetery’s call following the discovery April 9.
“It was big enough, it was concerning that it could be possibly human remains.”
Anyone can purchase a plot at the cemetery, board member John Strumpf said, but no one can bury something or someone themselves. At the risk of disturbing a crime scene, requesting the authorities to exhume the two-feet-by-two-feet spot was the safe bet.
Six police officials, including four detectives, arrived within minutes. After scoping out the scene, and having some discussion about the use of X-ray technology, Rexford said the police began digging.
“This was not an ordinary call by any means,” he said. “It’s not a good one either, when you’re on your way there thinking about it.”
The discovery of a shoebox and a written letter dedicated to ‘Elsa,’ wishing her a safe journey to heaven, worsened police’s fears.
“For all I knew it was a burial of a baby,” Rexford said.
A tribute for a ‘spunky,’ ‘little’ Elsa
Adrianna and Ignatius Sebesta adopted Mosiac, a guinea pig, from the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society in 2025. The Disney fanatics soon renamed her Elsa, to match the “Frozen” character and the name of the other guinea pig of her bonded pair, Anna.
Adrianna Sebesta holds her guinea pig Angel, which is named after her late daughter, in their Bethlehem apartment, Friday, April 17, 2026. Angel is one of four pets the Sebestas have.
Collin Bolebruch
Elsa joined two guinea pigs, a fish and a dog in the Sebesta’s family at Hudson on Nine, a complex across from Elmwood Cemetery. The rodent was tan and white, and loved to scurry around the apartment.
“She was actually very spunky for her little self, and she was the smallest out of all of them,” Adrianna Sebesta said. “She was the runt of the family. … Very energetic.”
With difficulty conceiving children of their own, the Sebestas called Elsa their daughter.
“That’s why I loved her so much. She actually reminded me a little bit of Elsa from the movie.”
But when Elsa’s personality began to change, Adrianna Sebesta worried about her pet’s health. The guinea pig was sluggish and quiet, and had difficulty with biological functions. Without many financial resources, a trip to the veterinarian was out of the question as Sebesta watched Elsa decline.
“The day she died, I literally lost it,” Sebesta said. “She was on my chest. I fell asleep, and when I woke up to check on her, I kind of pet her, but she was already gone.
“When I picked her up, she was limp. I just started crying.”
The couple has been grieving since Elsa died in late March, and Adrianna Sebesta said their pets have suffered weight loss as they’ve become depressed, too. As a self-described “Catholic Christian,” Sebesta said she and her husband wanted to honor their “daughter” as a member of the family.
Ignatius Sebesta, a Vietnam War veteran, holds his guinea pig Anna, which was bonded with Elsa. The latter pet was illegally buried at Elmwood Cemetery.
Collin Bolebruch
So the Sebestas, along with family member Richard Paul, made a little bed in an old shoebox, placed inside a family gold watch and a goodbye letter, and laid Elsa to rest before closing the lid. Then Adrianna Sebesta said her family consulted the Bethlehem First Reformed church up the road.
“When my grandmother got buried, my brothers and sisters all drew her pictures and put it inside her coffin, to take with her,” Sebesta said.
“We believe that the things people get buried with go with them. … that’s just sentimental.”
Wanting to avoid the thickets of the woods behind their apartment, the Sebestas asked the pastor if there was a place for their guinea pig among the people buried in the cemetery a half-mile north. Adriana Sebesta claims she was given permission by the Protestant church leader to lay their pet to rest, as other pets, such as cats and dogs, were buried there.
Bethlehem First Reformed on Friday, April 17, 2026. The Sebestas claim the priest allowed the burial at Elmwood Cemetery.
Collin Bolebruch
After Sunday services March 29, just before dusk, the Sebestas and Paul trekked to the cemetery. Ignatius Sebesta, a Vietnam War veteran in “deteriorating” health, his wife said, was wheeled to the site.
Paul used a knife to cut a square, deep hole in the ground, placed Elsa inside, and covered her up before erecting the little cross.
‘A much, much better outcome’ at Elmwood Cemetery
Officers on scene were surprised to find an animal corpse, but there was also a sense of relief.
“This was a much, much better outcome,” Rexford said.
New York state law does allow for cremated animal remains to share a tomb with a human, but full-body burials in single-animal graves are not allowed in human cemeteries. Such burials must happen in a pet cemetery.
“There are no animal burials there. We don’t allow it,” Strumpf said.
And at Elmwood Cemetery, like most graveyards, a plot must be purchased and burial arrangements must be made with the office.
“We don’t allow anybody other than us to bury anything in there,” Strumpf said.
Strumpf also disputed the Sebesta’s claim regarding the church’s role in making cemetery decisions — while a graveyard was built and managed by the church in the late 18th century, it relinquished its jurisdiction in the 19th century. The church’s headstones were moved to the current site, and the cemetery is now managed by an independent organization.
The church did not respond to requests for comment before publication.
Two weeks after Elsa was buried, Ignatius Sebesta answered a knock at his door from Bethlehem Police officers. Sebesta recalled the police saying the act could be considered trespassing, but no charges would be levied. And while the officers offered Elsa back to the family, a miscommunication led the police to leave with the animal and turn it over to animal control.
The Sebestas’ apartment complex in Bethlehem as seen from Elmwood Cemetery on Friday, April 17, 2026. Their guinea pig was buried for two weeks before it was returned.
Collin Bolebruch
Adrianna Sebesta has been trying to retrieve Elsa’s body, but acknowledges the attempt to be moot. As a Catholic, she said, she didn’t want to see her pet cremated, which is likely what happened to her; Rexford agreed the pet is probably “gone”.
“There’s not much I can do,” Sebesta said. But she still says what happened was “wrong.” Her son-in-law Paul agreed, claiming the family didn’t have options.
“Nowadays, everything being so expensive, nobody has money for a proper burial,” he said.
And while Rexford said the family had other legal routes, he understands it to be a family decision made by the Sebestas.
“From a person who owns an animal, I’m sure it wasn’t easy… the animal passed, so there’s all the feelings of that,” Rexford said. “But then to have all this happen after the fact… now the police are involved, I’m sure this adds to that.
“They felt that was the right burial for the animal.”
He encouraged pet owners to seek private burials on their property with permission from the land owner, following the laws set by New York. The state Department of Environmental Conservation encourages burials to be at least two feet deep and 200 feet away from water sources.
Elsa is survived by owners Ignatius and Adrianna Sebesta, and siblings Spongebob, a beta fish, Elvis, a small dog, and her guinea pig sisters Anna and Angel, which is named for Adrianna’s late daughter.
“Animals are very, very important to me,” she said. “They’re part of the family.”