‘A total violation of my parents,’ says victim of alleged Toronto region grave robbers
CBC
On a regular visit to his parents' final resting place at a Toronto cemetery, Darren Mori made a disturbing discovery.
The niche — a small compartment inside the mausoleum that holds his parents’ cremated remains — had been robbed. The urns containing their remains were intact, but cherished items including a jade ring belonging to his mother and a blue sapphire ring and frog pendant belonging to his father were gone.
“I was actually shocked,” he told CBC News.
Mori said it felt like “a total violation of my parents. The niche is sacred.”
On Nov. 17, 2025, the same day the Mori family reported the missing items from Highland Memory Gardens in North York, Halton police held a news conference detailing a string of thefts at eight cemeteries across the Toronto, Halton and Niagara region.
Officers had arrested a 45-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman, both of no fixed address, at a Niagara Falls motel on Nov. 7, they reported. A search of the motel and a vehicle led to the recovery of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry and stolen items.
The co-accused are currently facing 140 counts between them, including six counts of indignity to human remains, 20 counts of indecent interference of human remains and dozens of theft charges.
None of the charges have been proven in court and the co-accused remain in custody awaiting bail proceedings.
The Mori family were able to get only one of their parents' prized possessions back.
But brothers Darren and Derek Mori are going public to warn those in a state of grief that it's important to weigh the sentimental value of filling a niche with the risk it might be stolen.
Suzuko and Shigeru Mori had been married for 60 years, a union marked with silver wedding bands.
“The wedding rings never came off. I never ever saw my parents without their wedding rings on their entire life,” Darren Mori said.
Those rings haven't been recovered, but the Moris did retrieve their father’s frog pendant from a police station in Oakville.
Halton police say 140 people have reached out to them to report missing items from cemetery niches. After the story broke, 10 additional victims were identified.
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On a regular visit to his parents' final resting place at a Toronto cemetery, Darren Mori made a disturbing discovery.
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