MILANVILLE, PA — The dead stay dead, and the buried usually stay buried. The monuments that watch over the dead and buried face a more uncertain fate.

A statue of a winged angel until recently watched over the graves of the Milanville Cemetery. The cemetery and the graves therein date back to the 1700s, according to William Lothian, president of the Milanville Cemetery Association. The statue came to the cemetery more recently; it was purchased from Castle Antiques in Honesdale 15 to 20 years ago.

A month or so ago, Lothian found the statue knocked over in the cemetery with one of its wings broken and missing. It took a handcart and assistance to get the statue back on its pedestal; the statue weighed too much for a person to lift unassisted.

That didn’t prevent it from going fully missing several weeks later, the American flag it had held left behind.

The Milanville General Store issued a request for information through its Facebook page, asking anyone who’d seen something suspicious to call the store at 570/729-8390 or the local police. Discussion in the comments suggested the statue had likely been stolen and sold for scrap, and decried the theft as horrible.

Lothian too is seeking information about the statue’s whereabouts; his number is 201/665-6406. There will be a reward for the statue’s return, he said.