Pennsylvania Man Killed By His Dead Mother-In-Law
A Pennsylvania man who basically died at the hands of his dead mother-in-law Monday will reportedly be laid to rest this week "right in front" of the spot where she killed him.
Ed Kublius, a caretaker at the St. Joseph's Cemetery, tells WNEP 74-year-old Stephen Woytack and his wife, Lucy, liked to visit the cemetery every Easter to pay their respects. Kublius was working nearby Monday when Woytack—tending to his mother-in-law's gravesite—got trapped underneath her gravestone. Via the Times-Tribune:
Stephen and Lucy Woytack were attaching a religious ornament to the stone when it toppled, pinning Mr. Woytack underneath, according to Lackawanna County Coroner Tim Rowland. The warmer weather "made the terrain, monument and its base unstable," Mr. Rowland said in an emailed press release Monday. The coroner listed the manner of death as accidental.
For years, cemetery caretaker Ed Kubilus saw the Woytacks when they visited the gravesite, and he said he knew Mr. Woytack well. After the stone fell on her husband, Mrs. Woytack found Mr. Kubilus on the other side of the cemetery. He called police and rushed to the gravesite, where he tried to lift the 300- to 400-pound granite block, but couldn't. Police arrived a few minutes later, but by then it was too late, he said.
Kublius told the Times-Tribune shifting gravestones can be an issue in the spring when the ground begins to thaw out.
"It's just a freak thing that happened," he told the paper. "It's heartbreaking."
