Jean Baptiste

Jean Baptiste (c. 1813 – disappeared 1862) was a grave robber in the Utah Territory during the mid-19th century. While employed as a city gravedigger in Salt Lake City, he desecrated an estimated 300 graves before his discovery in 1862. His crimes, which involved wearing the clothing of the deceased and hoarding stolen funeral goods, led to his exile to a remote island in the Great Salt Lake, from which he disappeared and was never recovered.

Early life Jean Baptiste's early life is poorly documented. The 1860 United States census lists his birth year as 1813 and his birthplace as Ireland, though contemporary accounts frequently speculated he was French or Italian. In the mid-1850s, he lived in Victoria, Australia, during the gold rush. While there, he encountered missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and converted to the faith. He reportedly donated property for a chapel used by missionaries in Australia.

In 1855, he boarded the ship Tarkania for California; after the vessel was scuttled in Hawaii, he worked as a teacher in Honolulu before reaching San Francisco in 1856. He settled in Salt Lake City in 1859 and was employed as a gravedigger for the city cemetery. He lived with his wife, Maria, who later claimed she had no knowledge of his criminal activities.

Heath and cemetery sexton J. C. Little began an investigation and searched Baptiste's home. To ensure legal procedure, Heath sought direction from Probate Judge Elias Smith, who oversaw the subsequent search of the residence. Investigators discovered boxes containing approximately 60 pairs of children's shoes, a dozen pairs of men's shoes, funeral shrouds, and infant clothing. Baptiste was found to be wearing the burial suits of the deceased and using wood from stolen coffins as fuel for his fireplace. He specifically targeted the graves of children and the wealthy due to the quality of their clothing.

When confronted, Baptiste confessed. He admitted to similar grave robberies while living in Australia and estimated he had robbed as many as 300 graves in Salt Lake City over three and a half years. While families attempted to identify the recovered items at the courthouse, most of the clothing was eventually placed in a large box and buried in a single communal grave at the cemetery.

Three weeks after his exile, cattle herders on Fremont Island found that Baptiste had killed a heifer for food and leather and dismantled a cabin, presumably to build a raft. Historians at the Utah Division of State History primarily theorize that Baptiste attempted to cross to the mainland but drowned in the Great Salt Lake. His life was dramatized in the 2011 film Redemption: For Robbing the Dead, directed by Brigham Young University professor Tom Russell.