Jacob and Tashanna Armstrong's son died at birth. They frequently leave tributes for him but discovered some were going missing, so they set up a hidden camera to catch the culprit.
Who's stealing mementos from little McKade's grave?
Jacob and Tashanna Armstrong's son died at birth. The heartbroken couple frequently visits his Oklahoma grave to place tokens of their love, items like pinwheels and tiny toys, as a way to cope with his loss.
But soon they noticed something strange: The sentimental items were going missing.
"This pinwheel doesn't mean a whole lot to the next person, but it does mean a lot to the person who placed it there," Tashanna told Inside Edition.
Jacob was so upset that someone would pilfer items from his son's grave that he set up a hidden camera a few feet away, hoping to catch the culprit in the act.
Almost immediately, they captured video of two suspicious people lurking around the grave, but you couldn't see their faces.
Jacob went back to reset the camera to get a better shot and hit pay dirt. The new video showed an elderly man swiping a pinwheel from the little boy's grave.
The couple handed the video over to Deputy Chief James Logsdon at the North Enid Police Department, who made it his mission to solve the case, as his own sister also died at birth and is buried just feet from McKade.
"It would be hard to find a more defenseless victim than someone buried out here," Logsdon told Inside Edition.
He released images of the suspected thief to the local paper and tips helped identify a suspect. He's a 77-year-old man named Alfred Boyer and his arrest was captured on body camera. He was charged with petty larceny.
McKade's family was shocked.
"How does it feel to have a stranger literally steal them, pick them off your baby's grave and take them away?" asked Inside Edition Chief Investigative Correspondent Lisa Guerrero.
"It's heartbreaking," Tashanna said.
The Armstrong family wanted to speak to the man and explain why the theft of the pinwheel was so hurtful to them, so Inside Edition tracked Boyer down, bringing along Jacob.
Asked by Inside Edition producer Larry Posner what made him take the pinwheel, Boyer replied, "I just don't know, crazy. Normally I wouldn't do that."
He offered an apology.
"I'm sorry I did that," Boyer said. "I'm not a bad person."
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