A gravesite in Macon’s Rose Hill Cemetery containing the remains of a family killed in a grisly murder more than a century ago was vandalized earlier this month, and investigators are looking for the suspects.
Headstones at the site — which has the remains of the nine members of the Woolfolk family murdered in 1887 — were found ripped out of the ground and scattered. The bricks covering the top of the graves were also torn out.
Joey Fernandez, a preservationist who works with the cemetery and the president and founder of Rose Hill Preservation & Restoration, Inc., said the site resembled those at other cemeteries he’s seen that have been run over by drunk drivers, despite the graves being far from any road. The farthest brick was found 30 or 40 feet from the site down an embankment, Hernandez said.
“They just uprooted every single thing that they could possibly pull apart,” Hernandez said. “That site has been moved and tossed around and turned upside down.”
The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the vandalism. Rose Hill Cemetery released security footage of a group of men spotted in the cemetery in the early morning hours of July 7, when the destruction is believed to have happened.
The Woolfolk murders are among the most well-known crime incidents in Georgia.
On the morning of Aug. 6, 1887, 27-year-old Tom Woolfolk sought help from neighbors after his father, his stepmother, his stepmother’s aunt and his six half-siblings were murdered inside their farmhouse in Bibb County. He told the neighbors that he had escaped being killed by jumping out of a window.
Within hours, several thousand people rushed to the scene of the crime and the coroner conducted an inquest on the spot.
Witnesses and law enforcement were immediately suspicious of Tom Woolfolk. There were flecks of blood on his ears, a bloody handprint on his leg, he seemed agitated and nervous, and his explanation about how he survived seemed far-fetched. Tom Woolfolk was also known to have disliked his stepmother, who his father married after his mother’s death, as well as his half siblings, who he felt threatened his chance to inherit the family property. There were no signs of forced entry or theft.
The coroner’s jury concluded Tom Woolfolk was the murderer, but the sheriff had to take him to jail almost immediately to prevent the angry crowd from killing him.
A later investigation found that Tom Woolfolk had killed all nine victims with an axe during the early morning hours. He washed himself and his clothes after the murders to try to avoid suspicion.
The killings and subsequent trial process were covered widely in newspapers around the state, and it’s still known as Georgia’s first mass murder. Tom Woolfolk was executed by hanging about three years after the murders in front of a crowd of 10,000 people in Perry. While the victims are buried in the gravesite in Rose Hill Cemetery, Tom Woolfolk is buried at a separate site in Pulaski County.
The graves are believed to have been vandalized sometime on July 7. Hernandez said a woman who often walks her dog through the cemetery discovered the site a few days later and alerted the cemetery.
The damage inflicted to the gravesite would’ve taken a great deal of time and energy, according to Hernandez. The top of each grave is covered with around four layers of 60 total bricks held in place by cement. The vandals destroyed the first layer of bricks on all nine graves. Hernandez said he believes the vandals may have been trying to get to the buried remains.
After the vandalism was discovered, the cemetery filed an incident report with the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office. Herandez also reviewed security footage and saw a group of four young men entering the cemetery around 3 a.m. on July 7. He said he recognized the men from a vandalism incident about two years ago.
The Bond monument, famous for its appearance on the back of the Allman Brothers’ first album, was damaged by vandals when the angel ornament and the stone balusters, totaling about 700 pounds, were removed and tossed onto the train tracks at the cemetery’s edge.
The cemetery did not have security cameras at the time, but did find the men’s Instagram profiles where they had allegedly posted photos of themselves on the Bond monument at night around the time it was vandalized. Hernandez said there were other photos of them vandalizing historic sites around Middle Georgia. The cemetery reported the accounts to the sheriff’s office, but never heard anything more.
The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to requests for comment on whether or not the suspects had been charged for vandalizing the Bond monument.
The cemetery posted the footage to the Rose Hill Preservation & Restoration, Inc. Facebook page on Monday and offered a $1,000 reward for anyone who could provide the names of the men seen in the video. Hernandez said they received the names of the alleged perpetrators and have passed them along to the sheriff’s office.
Hernandez said that while it will be costly, the gravesite can be restored and the preservation group, which partners with the city, plans to make the fixes.
The tombstones that were pulled from the ground were made of granite and added to the plot in 2006, meaning they did not crack despite the rough treatment. The biggest challenge will be repairing the bricks, Hernandez said.
The layers of bricks over the grave support the grave shaft, which is a deep, rectangular structure inside of the grave with remains buried at the bottom. By removing the bricks, the vandals damaged the grave shafts, making the graves more susceptible to sinking and other damage. Hernandez said that the shafts will have to be restored using 19th century methods due to their age and historic value.
He estimates that the total cost for repairs will be between $5,000 and $6,000. City officials have met with the cemetery about how they may be able to help with the process.
“Our Parks and Beautification Department has met with the Rose Hill Preservation & Restoration, and we are looking at ways we can help move the repair process along,” said Chris Floore, spokesperson for Macon-Bibb County. “We encourage people to let the Sheriff’s Office know of any details of the vandalism they know and to donate to our partner organization to help make the repairs.”
Hernandez said that while people have frequently trespassed in the cemetery in the past, it now plans to crack down and punish people who enter after hours. The cemetery has already received donations from supporters to help offer rewards in the future for information about trespassers caught on security footage. He hopes that by stopping trespassing, the cemetery can prevent vandalism like what happened to the Woolfolk plot.
“This has taken countless hours of my time, it has taken a lot of everybody’s time, the family members and the public,” Hernandez said. “It’s a lot of time spent by everyone just because of trespassers.”
This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with The Telegraph.
