LEMAY, Mo. – Several metal vases have gone missing from grave sites at Mount Hope Cemetery in Lemay.

Melissa Springer’s family has 15 plots at Mount Hope Cemetery. Her grandfather was buried there in 1968, but a valuable part of his gravesite is now missing.

“After they’re here, you would hope there’d be some respect,” Springer said.

She says metal vases that the Springers fill with flowers every season have been stolen.

“We first noticed after the Christmas flowers so that would’ve been about the first of January. The last one would’ve been about two weeks ago,” Springer said.

She believes thieves might be looking to scrap the metal pots. It is a similar story FOX 2 covered last month when six bronze mausoleum doors were stolen from a cemetery in Affton. St. Louis County police say there is not an update in that case, but one of the doors has been recovered.

Springer is now making sure her remaining vases are protected. Four of her family’s pots have been taken. She has put the two remaining ones in her garage.

FOX 2 noticed several missing vases throughout the cemetery. Police say there were two copper pots reported stolen from there in December. Then in January, they got a second report. Springer worries there will be more.

“Not everybody comes out as frequently as we do. I wonder how many people, their loved ones are missing their vases, and they have no idea,” she said.

Mount Hope Cemetery declined FOX 2’s request for an interview.