Sandy Hook 'truther' tells victim's mother that her daughter never existed and the shooting was a hoax after defacing playground named in little girls' honor

Grace McDonnell, 7, was one of the 20 children killed in the Sandy Hook shooting

A foundation has been set up to build a playground in honor of each of the students and their teachers who died in the 2012 tragedy

A peace sign from Grace's memorial playground in Mystic, Connecticut was stolen on last week and the self-proclaimed culprit called her parents

Man reportedly told Lynn McDonnell that her daughter had never been born



A peace sign at a memorial playground dedicated to one of the victims has been stolen by a 'truther' who believes that the school shooting was staged.

If vandalizing the playground was not enough, a man who identified himself as the culprit called victim Grace McDonnell's mother and said that her daughter never existed.

During the call, CBS New York reported that the unidentified man told Lynn McDonnell that he was the one to take the peace sign and told her that he did so because the shooting was a hoax and her daughter was not real.

Missing: A purple peace sign that was displayed next to the dedication plaque at Grace McDonnell's memorial playground in Mystic, Connecticut was stolen on Tuesday

Before: The sign weighed about 50 pounds and was made using a copy of a drawing Grace drew before her death

Grace McDonnell was one of the 20 first graders who was shot and killed at the elementary school tragedy in December 2012.

A tribute playground has been built in Mystic, Connecticut and while the sign that bares Grace's name is still in place, a second vinyl sign has been stolen from the site.

The purple sign, which was reported as stolen on Tuesday May 6, had a copy of a peace sign drawn by Grace.



'We certainly have increased our patrols doing checks down there,' Captain Jerry Desmond told MailOnline.



The Mystic playground is one of the 26 that is being built in the region to honor each of the victims- the 20 students and six educators who were shot in Sandy Hook school.

Remembered: 'She was a truly, truly special girl,' Grace's mother Lynn said in an interview shortly after the 2012 tragedy, noting how the lively seven-year-old loved wearing little bows in her hair



Loss: Grace, back row, second from right, was killed, along with the entirety of her first grade class

Raw emotion: The photograph of the McDonnells moments after they heard their daughter has been killed has become iconic in expressing the raw grief and sorrow felt by a nation

'It's sad there are ignorant people who have to show their hatred in a place that was built by a community that shared and expressed their love for the families in Newtown that witnessed evil,' said Bill Lavin, the founder of the 'Where Angels Play Foundation' which is building the memorial sites.

A band of conspiracy theorists believe that the December 14, 2012 shooting never happened and that the relatives of the victims are crisis actors who are part of a government scheme to draw upon the scandal for any number of reasons, like the since-failed attempt to impose stronger gun laws.

This is the second time in a week that one of the memorial playgrounds has been vandalized.

A new blow: Lynn McDonnell (pictured during a December 2012 interview) was contacted by a man who claimed to have stolen the sign

A sign at the Ana Marquez Greene Memorial playground in Hartford was spray painted, but the message was taken as a much more mindful one as it said 'Peace 2 Sandy Hook'.

Staying alive in her memory: Lynn McDonnell is seen here with Grace before her death

The move actually inspired Ana's mother Nelba Marquez Greene to announce that they will be raising money to build a special graffiti board to encourage others to leave their own condolence messages.

The McDonnells spoke out about their memories of their daughter in the wake of the shooting, with Lynn telling CNN's Anderson Cooper how she last saw her blowing kisses to her from the school bus.

'I take comfort that she’s with friends, and she’s up there with her wonderful principal,' she said at the time.

‘Each one of those children were so beautiful,’ she said, adding: ‘We have so many angels and so many bright stars shining over us.’

Lynn and Chris McDonnell said that one of the most difficult parts was telling their son Jack what happened.

'I told Jack that he could never live with hate. Grace didn’t have an ounce of hate in her. And so we have to live through Grace and realize that hate is not how our family is,' Lynn McDonnell said.