Officers were called around 11:00 a.m. Friday to the Atlantic City Cemetery at Route 9 and Pennsylvania Avenue in Pleasantville.
Upon arrival, officers discovered the front door of a mausoleum was damaged and opened.
"Inside laid a casket which was damaged, and upon further inspection of the casket, the remains had been removed," Captain Rocky Melendez of the Pleasantville Police Department said.
Melendez says the mausoleum has six gravesites; the body that was taken was on the bottom right side.
According to officials, the body of the missing person was placed in the mausoleum in 1996.
"It's despicable for someone to come and desecrate someone's resting place, and not only desecrate the place, but to steal the body, it's beyond words," Melendez said.
Melendez says this incident is as disconcerting to police as it is to the family.
"[The family] is confused about this whole situation, they are surprised. They're upset, as they should be," Melendez said.
Police say they are looking at similar incidents that may have occurred in other towns in New Jersey.
Anyone with information on this crime is asked to contact the Pleasantville Police Department at 609-641-6100.
