BATESVILLE, Miss. — Batesville Police are trying to find the person responsible for damaging the site of the large cross off Interstate 55.
It looks like someone drove a car near the base of the cross and in the mud by it.
Standing 120 feet tall alongside the highway, the cross in Batesville is hard to miss.
“I remember when they put it up there,” a resident said.
The cross was put there in June 2017.
Many people have come to look at it up close since then, but over the weekend someone got too close.
“It’s sad for someone to do that, something like that,” a resident said.
The Batesville Police Department says they found out about the damage Saturday evening.
They’re offering a reward to anyone with information.
The police chief said they haven’t gotten any tips about it so far.
They posted a picture of the damage on their Facebook page, where over 200 people have commented and about a thousand people have shared it.
Several called it shameful and some offered to pitch in for security cameras.
Police said they don’t know if it was done on purpose.
The tire tracks in the parking lot look like someone was driving erratically on the site and got stuck in the mud.
“If you’re going to play in the mud, take it to the lake bottom. Don’t do it and sling it up on the cross,” resident Casey Russell said.
The community is shocked anyone could be so reckless around what’s meant to be a symbol of love.
“It’s sad. It’s sad.”
If you have any information about the damage, call Batesville Police at 662-563-5653.
