Grave Robbers Steal Charlie Chaplin’s Remains

In a shocking incident of grave robbery, two individuals snatch the body of the renowned actor Sir Charles Chaplin from a graveyard in the Swiss town of Corsier-sur-Vevey, situated in the hills overlooking Lake Geneva near Lausanne, Switzerland, on March 2, 1978.

Charles Chaplin, a comedic actor best known for his iconic character, the Little Tramp, was also a respected filmmaker whose career flourished during Hollywood’s silent film era and the significant shift to “talkies” in the late 1920s.

Chaplin passed away on Christmas Day in 1977 at the age of 88.

Just two months later, his remains were taken from the Swiss cemetery, triggering a police inquiry and a quest to apprehend the perpetrators.

Upon receiving a ransom demand of approximately $600,000, Chaplin’s widow, Oona, became the focus of police monitoring her telephone conversations and surveilling 200 phone booths in the vicinity.

Oona refused to comply with the ransom request, deeming it absurd according to what she believed her husband would have thought.

Subsequently, the callers escalated by issuing threats against her two youngest children.

Oona Chaplin, Charlie’s fourth spouse (following Mildred Harris, Lita Grey, and Paulette Goddard), was the daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill.

The couple tied the knot in 1943 when she was 18 and he was 54, and they raised eight children together.

The family relocated to Switzerland in 1952 after controversies surrounded Chaplin, who was accused of being sympathetic to Communism, leading to the denial of a reentry visa to the United States while en route to the London premiere of his movie Limelight.

Following a comprehensive investigation lasting five weeks, law enforcement detained two car mechanics—Roman Wardas from Poland and Gantscho Ganev from Bulgaria—who, on May 17, guided them to the burial site of Chaplin’s body, which they had hidden in a cornfield approximately a mile from the Chaplin family residence in Corsier.

In December, Wardas and Ganev were found guilty of the charges of desecrating a grave and attempting extortion.

Originating as political refugees from Eastern Europe, Wardas and Ganev apparently resorted to stealing Chaplin’s remains in hopes of alleviating their financial struggles.

Wardas, identified as the brains behind the operation, received a sentence of four-and-a-half years of hard labor.

He claimed to have been influenced by a similar incident reported in an Italian newspaper.

Ganev, on the other hand, was handed an 18-month suspended sentence due to his perceived lesser involvement in the crime.

To safeguard against future theft endeavors, Chaplin