Matthew Fortner, 49, was digging a grave at Baylous Cemetery in West Virginia when he allegedly struck the casket of a five-day-old baby boy who died in 1982, but rather than raising the alarm he chucked it over a hill

A gravedigger has been charged with desecreating a corpse after digging up a newborn baby boy that died four decades ago. Matthew Fortner, 49, was preparing a burial plot at Baylous Cemetery in West Virginia when he allegedly struck a casket. He pulled the casket out of the ground and chucked it over a hillside, it's been claimed. Meanwhile, a couple were decorating headstones for Easter when they spotted some baby's clothes. After a short search, they discovered the baby's corpse in the middle of the cemetery.

Fortner, who previously served time for murder, was arrested Wednesday and charged with displacement of a dead body, and intentionally withholding information about the disturbance of human, skeletal remains. He has pleaded not guilty and posted bond the day after his arrest. If convicted, he could be sent to prison for five years.

Police attended the cemetery and looked at all the graves, hoping to find signs of disturbance, but did not see any. It wasn't until later that they suggested Fortner had been digging another grave when he found the casket of the baby - who was thought to be five years old when he was buried. The man who contacted police said, "It’s like someone dug a grave up and there’s a baby. The casket’s thrown over a hill," according to local outlet WSAZ.

Cabell County Sheriff Doug Adams told the outlet: "It takes a sick individual, in my opinion, to desecrate a grave and mess with a corpse, period".

The cemetery's board of directors said it was "saddened to hear that an employee of a contractor used by Baylous Cemetery stands accused of committing this crime. We continue to cooperate with the Cabell County Sheriff’s Office and thank them for diligently working to solve this case. We hope that justice will be served."

WSAZ reported that Fortner was previously convicted of murder. He was sentenced to life with mercy for the 1997 murder after entering a guilty plea in 1999, and was freed in 2007. While in prison, the murder charge was dropped and he was sentenced to first-degree robbery with time served.

In December last year, a man was arrested after digging up his mum's grave and driving the coffin home in his car. The unnamed man told an investigating judge he just wanted to check she was really gone because her death three days earlier had occurred so suddenly. He spent the night in a police cell and was subsequently examined by a psychologist who concluded there was no reason to admit him to hospital , meaning he was instead brought to court.

The surreal episode occurred on December 28 between 1pm and 3pm in the La Carriona municipal cemetery in the Asturian town of Aviles, Spain . Witnesses informed a local priest after the dead woman's son marched up to the funeral site yelling she had been taken from her home "without permission". He then began removing flowers from the tomb and put her tombstone on the ground, smashing a brick partition protecting the coffin and then dragging it to his car, which was parked nearby.