
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 11, 1994                   TAG: 9402110170
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: HAMPTON                                LENGTH: Short

VAULT CASKET OPENED, SET AFIRE IN MAUSOLEUM

Hampton police said someone broke into a mausoleum Wednesday, pulled a casket from one of the vaults and set it afire. But they are not speculating publicly about why.

Police say the casket contained the remains of John Miquel Marks of Newport News, an immigrant from Rumania who died at age 67 last week. He lived in Newport News since the early 1950s, when he settled here with his wife, known as Mother LaMarr Marks, a palm reader.

A caretaker at Hampton Veterans Memorial Gardens on Butler Farm Road discovered the fire when he saw smoke pouring from the mausoleum at about 7:30 a.m., according to Hampton police Sgt. Donnie Moore.

The 7-foot bronze casket had been opened before it was burned, but Moore would not say whether anything had been removed. Moore said the fire did not appear to be part of a ritual.

"We are not commenting on whether we have any suspects or a motive," he said.

Unlike other vaults in the mausoleum, the one containing Marks' body was unmarked except by some flowers, cemetery manager James Stuart said. Other than smoke damage, the other vaults were not disturbed, he said. -

by CNB