2-Year-Old's Stolen Tombstone Found, Returned

By Gan Matthews, NEWS 9

MOORE, Oklahoma -- Allie Croom, 2, drowned last summer. Her death the District Attorney says was murder, but her death contains at least one happy chapter. Her tombstone, which had been stolen, has now been found by someone who just wanted to do the right thing.

Croom still lies in a grave with no tombstone. That's because the 1,200 pound marker some relatives had arranged for was stolen right out of their front yard on January 4. Aunt Jennifer Bibb had pretty much abandoned hope it would ever be found.

"We just needed some closure, so it was time to stop looking for it and move on to something else," Bibb said.

But on Thursday, Moore resident David Byrd was visiting a family property where people often dump trash and there he found the missing tombstone.

"The base was laying in this small depression right here and the headstone had probably been pushed off the trailer and landed in this little crease, making this little outline right there," said Byrd. "I picked it up and saw on the front side 'Allie Elizabeth' and the bottom said 'Croom.'"

The tombstone is now back at the Bibb's home. It's a little dinged up, there are some paint stains and one of the turrets on the sand castle design is chipped.

Jennifer Bibb, Allie's mother, and her husband will take some pictures of the tombstone and then e-mail them to her brother in Indiana. He's the one who created the stone. He'll tell them if he'll have to start it all over again, or if they can repair it themselves.

In the meantime, Byrd is gratified he was able to help.

"That's what it's all about," said Byrd. "You can't work with money that way. You do something good in your life and you say, 'wait a minute, that's good,' and you get that feeling."

"We are so excited and relieved that he cared enough about a family that he doesn't even know, to do that," said Jennifer Bibb. "It's just amazing."

It won't be too long now before a young child's grave is properly marked at last.

Donald Reeser, the man who is charged with Allie Croom's murder, is scheduled for trial in March.

More on News9.com: Man Arrested for Drowning Toddler at Lake Draper | 2-year-old Drowning Victim's Headstone Stolen, Family Devastated Again