WATERLOO -- Apparently, vandals won't let David Elwell rest in peace.

The fine for illegal dumping at the Riverview Recreation Area is $500.

But desecrating a burial plot is unforgivable.

Tim Shea, Waterloo waste management services superintendent, said some people use the park as their personal dump. The department has hauled away couches, refrigerators, old tires … just about anything people don't want to pay to dispose of at the county landfill.

Last Monday, workers picked up a 146-year-old white marble tombstone -- David Elwell's.

"It kind of breaks your heart. It's the worst kind of desecration," Shea said shaking his head while looking at the stone. "There's no worst form of disrespect, other than opening the grave and stealing from it. I just want to get it back where it belongs."

The only clues to accomplish this was the stone and its inscription: David Elwell, 69 years, eight months and four days; died, Jan. 19, 1859.

In his quest to honor the deceased and curtail cemetery vandalism, Shea called the Courier for help.

He was hoping a story might prompt someone to claim the stone and reset it. Or, at the very least, people would be more vigilant to help stop this type of crime.

Shea didn't know if family members were even around. After all, he died five years after Waterloo was platted.

A call to historians at the Grout Museum netted several more clues. Documents showed David Elwell, and his wife, Nancy, apparently moved to Waterloo in 1854 with their son, Timothy. Historians said David and Nancy were both buried at Waterloo Cemetery on Kimball Avenue..

Jim Stimson, cemetery manager, said he was unaware the stone was missing until the Courier left a message about it on Friday morning. He promptly went to the ground's north end to investigate.

"I remember it being there in December. I was picking up leaves in that area, and there's not that many stones," Stimson said. "It looks like someone kicked it over. It's kind of sickening."

In two years as caretaker, this was the first case of tombstone theft and vandalism that Stimson could recall.

Whoever took the grave marker went to great lengths to remove it, Stimson said, noting it was cemented in the ground. The portion found near the new boat dock in the recreation area is about four inches thick, 20 inches wide and about three feet tall, weighing at least 150 pounds. What appears to be chain marks are visible on the bottom.

There's probably another foot of the stone in the ground yet.

What makes Shea so mad is the disrespect for another human being and family. Especially people with a storied past.

Documents showed David Elwell's parents emigrated to the United States prior to the Revolutionary War, in which his father fought, from Europe. David was also a soldier, fighting in the war of 1812.

David was born in Maryland but eventually moved to Knox County, Ohio, where he and Nancy raised their family. By the time David was 65, Timothy moved his family to Waterloo for cheap government land and business opportunities. David and Nancy went with him.

"Waterloo was a common destination for Ohio residents. It was growing and expanding, and land was probably $1 to $2 an acre," said Bob Neymeyer, Grout historian.

History papers show Timothy Elwell built a grist mill in La Porte City turning out high-grade flour. Timothy and his family moved to La Porte City in 1866, seven years after his father's death.

A passage in the History of Black Hawk County Biographical Sketches described Timothy as: "A highly esteemed citizen, and much respected in business circles for his fair dealing and sterling business qualities, and his death was a loss to the community."

This isn't the first time city workers found a vandalized tombstone. In the late 1980s, street department officials remember holding on to a stone searching for its origin … waiting for a family to claim it.

No luck. It eventually disappeared.

"It was here a long time. We even went as far as contacting a genealogy expert," said Donna Balk, street department secretary. She couldn't remember the name on the stone.

This case, though, has a happier ending.

On Friday afternoon, Stimson picked up the stone from the waste water plant on Easton Avenue and returned it to the cemetery. He's skeptical if it can be repaired. It might have to be laid on the ground and encased in concrete like many old stones that have succumbed to the elements and time, he said.

Mike Magee, a Waterloo board member with the State Association for the Preservation of Iowa Cemeteries, thinks it can be resurrected. Even though the stone was broken off about one-half inch above the base, he thinks he can repair it. He hopes it will be upright again by spring, taking it's rightful place next to Nancy's stone.

Magee has special adhesive for tombstones and has repaired similar markers in pioneer cemeteries.

"It's a shame, pure vandalism," Magee said.

If anyone has information pertaining to the crime, Shea and cemetery officials urge people to call the Waterloo Police Department at 291-4349.

Matthew Wilde can be reached at (319) 291-1579 or matt.wilde@wcfcourier.com.