An East Nassau mother’s plea: return the bench at my son’s grave

A distraught mother is asking whoever took a bench from her 19-year-old son’s grave to put it back.

Lee Ann Kreutziger said she noticed the bench was missing when she came to visit her son, Jonathan Saviano’s grave over the weekend.

Saviano, or as his friends liked to call him, “Big Country”, was very loved. You can tell by the mementos that surround his headstone at East Nassau Cemetery — a Bud Light bottle cap, a pair of sunglasses, his old boots that have been repurposed into flower pots, and even a flag that has a picture of his loyal dog, Buster.

Saviano died in his home after it caught fire on Saddleback Ridge Road on Dec. 28, 2018, along with his pal Buster.

Kreutziger said she can’t get over that day. She said she comes and visits her son’s grave often.

The bench was a gift to Kreutziger from Saviano’s father, Joseph. She always sits there and just looks and remembers some of the better times she’s shared with her son.

Many pictures describe the kind of person Saviano was — loving, always smiling, never without Buster, and overall a genuinely kind person.

Kreutziger can only wonder what would make someone want to steal the bench.

She even posted on Facebook begging the public for any information. Comment after comment from friends and family offers their sorrows and echoing a hope for the bench to find its way home.

If you have any information on the missing bench, you can contact Kreutziger at 518-610-5820.

NewsChannel 13 also checked with local police to see if anyone filed a report. A dispatcher said he didn’t see anything in their system.