The Attorney General's Office is now investigating two state employees for taking home 77 gravestones from the Southern Nevada Veterans Cemetery.
Those employees admitted they turned the stones into a patio.
The investigation is now trying to decide if taking the stones is considered a crime. But now, Tami and Kevin Jenicke are taking the stones back where they belong.
The view from above their house said it all last Wednesday. Seventy-seven gravestones, memorials of the heroes who gave so much, now turned into a patio.
Tami Jenicke is a spokesperson for the state veterans home. Kevin Jenicke actually works at the cemetery. They took home stones meant for destruction. Normally spouses can be buried together and that requires replacing the current headstone.
Those old headstones ended up in the Jenickes backyard. Now, with the plan exposed, the Jenickes had to pull the stones up.
"We have to step back and say, ‘How have we failed?'" said Carole Turner with the Nevada Office of Veterans Services.
Turner is the regional boss for the Veterans Department. She says the patio is a mistake that never should have happened. "Our veterans deserve a respectful, peaceful final resting place," she said.
Turner says the actions of the Jenicke's should not reflect on her entire agency and says this was an isolated case. "This does not define who we are. We're much better than this," she said.
Yet back at the cemetery, there's new proof the Jenicke's still have supporters. While returning a load of stones, Kevin Jenicke hid from Eyewitness News cameras at every opportunity, even driving away at one point with the tailgate still down.
Later, from a different angle, Jenicke motions for a co-worker to move a state truck in an effort to block the camera's view, not once, but twice. Jenicke eventually finishes the drop off and heads out, knowing the investigation has expanded.
Tuner's internal inquiry promises results, "At the conclusion of our investigation, we will, as appropriate, take sanctions against the Jenicke's and whomever, quite frankly."
The state has no policy on how the old stones should be destroyed, but the federal government does. The stones should be ground down and broken apart so they cannot be recognized -- the most honorable option available -- according to the government.
While the agencies continue their investigations and possible sanctions, the Veterans Department is still finalizing state rules to keep this from happening again.
