\u201cIt was big enough [that] it was concerning that it could be possibly human remains,\u201d said Rexford.<\/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 that authorities exhume the 2-foot-by-2-foot spot was the safest bet.<\/p>\n
Six police officials, including four detectives, arrived within minutes. After scoping out the scene and discussing the possibility of utilizing X-ray technology, the police began digging, Rexford said.<\/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 Elsa, 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 to \u2018spunky\u2019 Elsa<\/p>\n
Adrianna and Ignatius Sebesta adopted Mosiac, a guinea pig, from the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society last year. The Disney fanatics soon renamed her Elsa, to match the \u201cFrozen\u201d character and the name of the other guinea pig of her bonded pair, Anna.<\/p>\n
Elsa joined two guinea pigs, a fish and a dog in the Sebesta 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
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69eaf127cbfc9.image.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Ignatius Sebesta, a Vietnam War veteran, holds his guinea pig Anna, who was bonded with Elsa. The latter pet was illegally buried at Elmwood Cemetery.<\/p>\n
Collin Bolebruch<\/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 the Sebestas watched Elsa decline.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe day she died, I literally lost it,\u201d Adrianna 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 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
So the Sebestas, along with family member Richard Paul, made a small bed in an old shoebox, placed inside it 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 Adrianna said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69eaf13123061.image.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Adrianna Sebesta holds her guinea pig Angel, named after her late daughter, in their Bethlehem apartment. Angel is one of four pets the Sebestas have.<\/p>\n
Collin Bolebruch<\/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
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69eaf139e04b8.image.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Bethlehem First Reformed Church on Friday, April 17, 2026. The Sebestas claim the pastor 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 small cross.<\/p>\n
A \u2018Much, much better outcome\u2019<\/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 occur 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 Sebestas\u2019 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\u2019s 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 of this story.<\/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
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69eaf13d1cdba.image.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The Sebestas\u2019 apartment complex in Bethlehem as seen from Elmwood Cemetery. The family\u2019s 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\u2019s body, but acknowledges the attempt is likely moot. As a Catholic, she said, she didn\u2019t want to see her pet cremated, which is likely what happened to Elsa; Rexford agreed that the animal is probably \u201cgone.\u201d<\/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. 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 2 feet deep and 200 feet 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, who 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 performing his usual spring-cleaning chores \u2014 trimming trees, cleaning the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,1256,79609,79614,79608,79616,79613,79611,79612,79615,79610],"class_list":["post-178186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-bethlehem-police-department","tag-bethlehem-police-investigatio","tag-can-pets-be-buried-in-human-cemeteries-ny","tag-elmwood-cemetery-bethlehem-ny","tag-elmwood-cemetery-caretaker-discovery","tag-elsa-the-guinea-pig","tag-james-rexford-bethlehem-police","tag-pet-burial-laws-new-york","tag-shoebox-burial-investigation-bethlehem","tag-unauthorized-pet-burial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178186","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=178186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178186\/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=178186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}