The caretaker at Elmwood Cemetery in Bethlehem was doing his spring cleaning, trimming the trees, cleaning the fountain and checking up on his headstones.<\/p>\n
A granite monument. A veteran\u2019s bronze marker.<\/p>\n
Wait, a wooden cross on the ground?<\/p>\n
That bundle of sticks, flanked by two mini U.S. flags, was a clear outlier among the plots of the Route 9W graveyard\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey didn\u2019t know what it was,\u201d said James Rexford, deputy chief of Bethlehem Police, which responded to the cemetery\u2019s call following the discovery April 9.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was big enough, it was concerning that it could be possibly human remains.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was not an ordinary call by any means,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not a good one either, when you\u2019re on your way there thinking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The discovery of a shoebox and a written letter dedicated to \u2018Elsa,\u2019 wishing her a safe journey to heaven, worsened police\u2019s fears.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor all I knew it was a burial of a baby,\u201d Rexford said.<\/p>\n
A tribute for a ‘spunky,’ ‘little’ Elsa<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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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.<\/p>\n
Collin Bolebruch<\/p>\n
Elsa joined two guinea pigs, a fish and a dog in the Sebesta\u2019s family at Hudson on Nine, a complex across from Elmwood Cemetery. The rodent was tan and white, and loved to scurry around the apartment.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was actually very spunky for her little self, and she was the smallest out of all of them,\u201d Adrianna Sebesta said. \u201cShe was the runt of the family. \u2026 Very energetic.\u201d<\/p>\n
With difficulty conceiving children of their own, the Sebestas called Elsa their daughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why I loved her so much. She actually reminded me a little bit of Elsa from the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n
But when Elsa\u2019s personality began to change, Adrianna Sebesta worried about her pet\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe day she died, I literally lost it,\u201d Sebesta said. \u201cShe 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I picked her up, she was limp. I just started crying.\u201d<\/p>\n
The couple has been grieving since Elsa died in late March, and Adrianna Sebesta said their pets have suffered weight loss as they\u2019ve become depressed, too. As a self-described \u201cCatholic Christian,\u201d Sebesta said she and her husband wanted to honor their \u201cdaughter\u201d as a member of the family.<\/p>\n
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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.<\/p>\n
Collin Bolebruch<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen my grandmother got buried, my brothers and sisters all drew her pictures and put it inside her coffin, to take with her,\u201d Sebesta said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that the things people get buried with go with them. \u2026 that\u2019s just sentimental.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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Bethlehem First Reformed on Friday, April 17, 2026. The Sebestas claim the priest allowed the burial at Elmwood Cemetery.<\/p>\n
Collin Bolebruch<\/p>\n
After Sunday services March 29, just before dusk, the Sebestas and Paul trekked to the cemetery. Ignatius Sebesta, a Vietnam War veteran in \u201cdeteriorating\u201d health, his wife said, was wheeled to the site.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
‘A much, much better outcome’ at Elmwood Cemetery<\/p>\n
Officers on scene were surprised to find an animal corpse, but there was also a sense of relief.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a much, much better outcome,\u201d Rexford said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are no animal burials there. We don\u2019t allow it,\u201d Strumpf said.<\/p>\n
And at Elmwood Cemetery, like most graveyards, a plot must be purchased and burial arrangements must be made with the office.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t allow anybody other than us to bury anything in there,\u201d Strumpf said.<\/p>\n
Strumpf also disputed the Sebesta\u2019s claim regarding the church\u2019s role in making cemetery decisions \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
The church did not respond to requests for comment before publication.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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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.<\/p>\n
Collin Bolebruch<\/p>\n
Adrianna Sebesta has been trying to retrieve Elsa’s body, but acknowledges the attempt to be moot. As a Catholic, she said, she didn\u2019t want to see her pet cremated, which is likely what happened to her; Rexford agreed the pet is probably “gone”.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s not much I can do,\u201d Sebesta said. But she still says what happened was \u201cwrong.\u201d Her son-in-law Paul agreed, claiming the family didn\u2019t have options.<\/p>\n
\u201cNowadays, everything being so expensive, nobody has money for a proper burial,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
And while Rexford said the family had other legal routes, he understands it to be a family decision made by the Sebestas.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom a person who owns an animal, I\u2019m sure it wasn\u2019t easy\u2026 the animal passed, so there\u2019s all the feelings of that,\u201d Rexford said. \u201cBut then to have all this happen after the fact\u2026 now the police are involved, I\u2019m sure this adds to that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey felt that was the right burial for the animal.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s late daughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnimals are very, very important to me,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re part of the family.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The caretaker at Elmwood Cemetery in Bethlehem was doing his spring cleaning, trimming the trees, cleaning the fountain…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,31,296,139,79028],"class_list":["post-176786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-crime","tag-local","tag-news","tag-spotlightnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}