Woman digs up boyfriend’s ashes

INDIAN ISLAND – A Penobscot woman, apparently in mourning over her deceased boyfriend, unearthed his ashes Monday on the one-year anniversary of his death.

Doreen Neptune, 53, who is being treated at Acadia Hospital, according to her daughters Greta Neptune and Onawa Hoffman, can’t say why she dug up the remains of Johnny Love, who died Aug. 18, 2002, of acute liver failure as a result of hepatitis. But Love’s surviving family is upset by her actions.

“I can’t tell why it was done because I can’t remember doing it,” Doreen Neptune said during a telephone interview Tuesday. “I’ve been mourning his death since he was in the hospital.”

Richard Love, Johnny Love’s brother, said the whole family is upset about the incident.

“My whole family is devastated over this,” he said Tuesday. “We laid him to rest again today. It was like it just happened today. It’s opened all the healing we’ve accomplished in the last year. It’s unbelievable.”

Neptune and Love dated for a decade and lived together on Indian Island before his death. She said she visited Love’s grave late Sunday.

“I remember lighting a candle and talking to him and smoking a cigarette with him. I lit him one and placed it on the ground and I rearranged the flowers,” she said. “After that I don’t remember anything. I downed a fifth [of coffee brandy].”

Around 3 a.m. Monday, Neptune’s daughter, Greta, heard on the scanner that police were searching for her mother. The younger Neptune said her mother apparently returned to the home of her former boyfriend’s sister, Emily Love, covered in dirt and ash and asked for a ride home. Emily Love gave Neptune a ride to her apartment in Old Town, and when Neptune left the vehicle Love noticed ash being scattered.

According to Neptune, Emily Love then called the police. “The police told me I told Emily that I was going to die on the same day he died,” she said. “That’s why she called the police. I’m sorry for what I did. I never would have done that if I hadn’t been drinking Allen’s [coffee brandy].”

Apparently Neptune was carrying Love’s ashes in a plastic bag in a ceremonial box in her pocketbook.

Neptune, who is taking prescription medication for depression, according to Greta Neptune, had wanted to participate in a seance on the anniversary of Love’s death. Her daughter suggested that might have prompted her mother’s actions.

“I kept thinking about it,” Neptune said. “I’ve been watching ‘Crossroads’ and I was almost believing in it.”

Doreen Neptune could face up to a year in jail and $2,000 in fines if she is charged in the incident.

“You’re guilty of abuse of a corpse if you disinter, dig up or remove a human corpse, which is a Class D crime, ” said tribal prosecutor Peter Bos on Tuesday.

Bos had not seen any paperwork on Neptune on Tuesday, but said that if Neptune is charged, she’ll probably be prosecuted on the island. The tribe holds court on the first Wednesday of each month.

“All this has been eating at her all year,” Hoffman said. “She lost her son, her parents and her love all within a couple of years.”

Neptune’s family hopes the charges will be dropped.

The Love family wants Neptune prosecuted to the full extent of the law. “She desecrated not just my brother’s grave, she desecrated the whole family lot. The whole site,” Richard Love said. “We just want justice.”

The Indian Island police are still investigating the incident. No charges had been filed Tuesday.