The theft of the coffin of comedy king Charlie Chaplin shocked

SwitzerlandLess than three months after his death, Charlie Chaplin’s grave was torn up, and the casket went missing. His wife received 27 phone calls demanding ransom.

Filmmaker and pantomime comedian Charlie Chaplin is remembered by posterity as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. Starting acting at the age of 10, in a career spanning nearly 80 years, Chaplin has touched countless hearts with excellent performances in many masterpieces such as The Great Dictator, Modern Times, City lights…

Suffering a stroke in the 1960s and 1970s, Chaplin, who was sick and confined to a wheelchair, spent the last years of his life living with his fourth wife, Oona, on Lake Geneva in Switzerland.

On Christmas Day 1977, he died in his sleep at his home, aged 88. In accordance with Chaplin’s wishes, a small and private funeral was held right in the cemetery of the small village of Corsier-sur-Vevey.

But that respite lasted only a few months. On March 2, 1978, police called Chaplin’s residence to inform 51-year-old widow Oona that a burglary had occurred in the middle of the night. Her husband’s coffin was missing.

Traces at the scene showed that the robbers dug up Chaplin’s grave and dragged the coffin over a considerable distance to their car. During the investigation, the police received a phone call from a person claiming to be behind the theft.

In a thick Eastern European accent, the man who called himself “Mr. Rochat” said that there was a photograph of the coffin to prove he had it. He demanded one million Swiss francs (equivalent to $2 million today) to return the coffin.

Over the next few months, Oona and her lawyer received about 27 phone calls from thieves, who continued to demand money. Police began tracking Oona’s phone lines as well as 200 phone booths in the surrounding area, hoping to catch the criminals who were committing the act.

Despite the threats against Chaplin’s youngest son, Oona did not take the strange situation too seriously. She insisted that there would be no such thing as paying this absurd ransom, and asserted that “even the late Chaplin must have found these demands absurd.”

As the weeks passed, the still-unidentified thieves continued to demand ransom and demanded that Chaplin’s butler transfer the money to the family’s Rolls Royce. The police saw this as an opportunity to catch the thieves, and they arranged an undercover officer to act as a butler and carry out a “trapping”.

Unfortunately, the plan was comically ruined when the officer was mistaken for a car thief by a local postman and chased after him, shouting. This made the police “must” arrest the undercover officer who was disguised to serve the plan to set a trap for the thieves.

Confused by this negligence, the police sought to “redeem” it 2 months later, anxiously expecting a follow-up call. Fortunately, this time the plan worked perfectly.

Eleven weeks after the coffin theft, police finally arrested Roman Wardas, 24, a Polish car mechanic.

Both are political refugees. Wardas left Poland to find work, but mostly lived in poverty in Switzerland. Wardas explained that he came up with the plot to steal the coffin for extortion after reading an article about a similar incident that took place in Italy not long ago.

Wardas admitted he never wanted to harm Chaplin’s remains in any way. “I’m just hoping to make some quick money from this plan,” Wardas said.

They originally only planned to pretend to create a grave robbery by burying Chaplin’s body beneath his actual grave. But because “it was raining and the soil was too heavy”, they ended up stealing the coffin because there was “no other way”.

Wardas was charged with conspiracy with a four-year prison sentence. Ganev’s accomplice received an 18-month suspended prison sentence. The prosecution determined that he was just a “big stupid” guy who was used by Wardas to do manual work in rogue missions.

They both showed remorse and even wrote a letter of apology to Mrs. Oona, which she graciously accepted.

The two stingers also led police to a cornfield, just a mile from Chaplin’s home, showing exactly where to dig. Fortunately, the oak coffin weighing 150 kg is still intact.

Chaplin’s body was later reburied. But this time, the coffin was covered with concrete to ensure no one could steal it anymore. Now, the movie legend can rest in peace forever.

In the cemetery there was a statue of Chaplin in his honor. In 1991, Mrs. Oona died and was buried next to her husband.