Posted on April 18, 2019 at 8:56 am by West Sider



Photo via NYPD.

NYPD detectives tracked down the family of Rose Roy Weiss, the Floridian whose headstone was left in a planter under the West Side Highway. The headstone was found by an Upper West Sider out for his daily walk, and police read about it in the West Side Rag and recovered the stone.

NYPD Deputy Inspector Mark Iocco gave the following account of what the NYPD discovered. “We always focus on quality of life, but this time we took necessary action to ensure there’s quality of death as well,” he wrote in a subsequent email.

“Our detective used several databases and consulted with a genealogist to come up with a list of possible relatives. He narrowed it down and was able to reach an individual who stated Rose Weiss was his great grandmother. This individual put us in touch with his father who is the grandson of Rose Weiss. He was able to give us the cemetery where Rose Weiss was buried. Detectives spoke with the superintendent of the cemetery who confirmed she was buried there. The superintendent also told detectives there was a note in the file stating the monument company delivered an incorrect stone and a second stone was ordered. The monument company delivered the correct headstone and took back the incorrect one. The grandson of Rose Weiss then recalled his mother (daughter of Rose Weiss) being very upset when the incorrect stone was delivered. Rose Weiss is buried in Paramus NJ, the superintendent has confirmed the correct stone is still at her gravesite. Her grandson is in Norwalk CT. We offered to deliver the headstone we have in our custody but he’s in the process of moving to California and did not accept. There’s no indication of criminality in this case. We’re still not sure how the discarded stone ended up in a planter on the west side. The planter was originally at Pier 40 but was moved up to Pier 92 at some point. Not sure if the headstone was in it then. At this point I’m comfortable with the results of our investigation.”

The question of why the stone was placed in the planter appears to be moot now.