A family used secret cameras to find the person who had been defecating and urinating on their mother's grave and were stunned to find it was her ex-husband.
Linda Louise Torello died from cancer at the age of 66 in 2017 and is buried at a cemetery at Tappan Reformed Church in Orangetown, New York.
Faeces and urine have been found at her headstone "almost every morning", according to Torello's family and they decided to use clandestine devices to find the culprit of the appalling behaviour.
Linda's son, Michael Murphy, 43, posted an incriminating video of the man getting out of his car, walking over to the headstone and urinating on it in what was described as a "normal routine".
The family managed to identify the man as Linda's ex-husband to whom she was briefly married but divorced in 1974, and had not had contact with him since 1976.
However, he still appears to have held a grudge almost 48 years after their legal separation and five years after her death.
Michael wrote on Facebook with the accompanying video: "THIS IS BREAKING MY HEART.
"A man from Bergen county New Jersey has been leaving bags of poo and p*****g on my mother's tombstone almost every morning like a 'normal routine' assisted by his wife also.
"We have weeks and months of evidence. It has been reported to the police and the news outlets. No one in my family has had contact with him since 1976 or so.
"How he found my mothers grave site we are not sure. But this stems back to a problem almost 50 years ago. Pray for us thank you and please share this!!!"
Michael and his sister Renee Eichler Barragan gained permission from Tappan Reformed Church to use the hidden cameras to find the offender. The family also found that the New Jersey man's wife usually accompanied him on his morning trips to the grave.
It is believed that the breakdown of Linda's first marriage was due to a fallout when she became pregnant and the man did not want responsibility for the child, her children told Daily Voice.
The video was recorded on Sunday, September 18 on Michael's phone and he said he had evidence of the man going four days in a row. Local police was contacted, but could not prosecute the offender.
Michael is hoping to take the complaint to a judge as New York State law states cemetery desecration is only a crime if damages are in excess of $250 (£231.28).
He believes he has surpassed that threshold after "paying a hazmat company to remove all her decorations that are soaked in urine and have the headstone properly cleaned and some of grass ripped up and replaced, plus the permits to let these companies enter the cemetery", he told Daily Voice.
