Local couple’s efforts lead to headstone for girl’s grave

David Kihara

Friday, Aug. 12, 2005 | 11:06 a.m.

Mariellen Yappel and her boyfriend, Wayne Colosky, were so overcome with emotion that they had to do something after watching a television report on the 2-year-old cerebral palsy victim who died from neglect.

The details of Adacelli Snyder's death were horrific: The 2-year-old died from cachexia, or general wasting away from malnutrition, and had sores and bruises on her body when she was found in the family's mobile home.

Her parents, Charlene Snyder and Jack Richardson, are being charged with second-degree murder and neglect and are currently behind bars.

While the facts of the case are heart-wrenching, there was one element of the case that left them speechless -- Adacelli was buried in an unmarked grave in Woodlawn Cemetery with little in the way of a formal service.

"There was this little girl buried, and no one to say 'I'm going to miss you,' " Yappel said.

Rather than dismiss the broadcast as one more tragedy, Yappel and Colosky decided to purchase a headstone for Adacelli's grave.

"We just felt bad and we just looked at each other and said, "she's going to have a headstone,' " Yappel said.

Yappel and Colosky planned on paying for the headstone themselves, and prepared to pay $400 to $500. But within hours of being interviewed by a local television station and describing what she wanted to do, Yappel received an outpouring of support and pledges of money from people as far away as Beatty, about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Yappel and Colosky are no strangers to death. On Feb. 14, Valentines Day, Yappel's 22-year-old son Nick Weigle went to her house, laid down in the bed she shared with Colosky and shot himself in the head.

Yappel was the first person to discover Weigle, she said.

It was partly because of his death and his subsequent funeral service that she was so moved to buy a headstone for Adacelli, she said.

"My son's service was a celebration. I had no idea how many people would show up. It was so moving," she said.

And so the vision of Adacelli's unmarked grave inspired her to act.

Colosky could sympathize with Yappel when her son committed suicide. Colosky's 34-year-old brother, David, committed suicide in 1983 in Riverside, Calif., by shooting himself in the head, he said.

"Not one person showed up to her funeral -- she doesn't even have a headstone," Colosky said. "We will get a headstone on that little girl's grave."

Adacelli was buried about 11 a.m. Wednesday in a small, unmarked plot, said Albert Moore, foreman of Woodlawn Cemetary.

Moore, who buried Adacelli, said a few people had gathered at the plot and said a prayer when she was buried. And throughout the day Thursday, well-wishers had been visiting the site to give their regards, he said.

But he said that no family members had attended the service. It was the first time in his six years working at Woodlawn Cemetery that he hadn't seen family members at a funeral service, he said.

"It was unusual -- let's just put it that way," he said.

Moore said that he was also surprised at how small Adacelli's pink coffin was considering that she was 2 years old.

"When they told me she was 2 years old, I couldn't believe it," he said, adding that the size of Adacelli's coffin would normally be appropriate for a 6-month-old.

Although the gravesite on Thursday afternoon didn't have a gravestone, people had left several bouquets of flowers and a teddy bear.

Another person left a handwritten note that stated, "Thoughts of you are gently wrapped in little prayers."

It is community support such as that that has heartened Yappel. She said that so many people have offered support that she is trying to figure out what to do if there is money left over after purchasing a proper grave marker.

She is considering setting up a trust fund for Adacelli's three siblings, who are now in the custody of a relative, or donating the money to Clark County Child Protective Services or a cerebral palsy charity.

"I'll go to sleep well knowing that people will know who this little girl is," Yappel said.