Overview
- Erin Scott O’Brien said the stone belonged to her grandfather, Charles Paddock Jr., a U.S. soldier who served in Italy during World War II, and that she later used it as a garden ornament before leaving it behind when she moved in 2018.
- Daniella Santoro and Aaron Lorenz uncovered the marble slab in March and sought expert review, leading Tulane’s Susann S. Lusnia and UNO’s D. Ryan Gray to identify it as a funerary marker for Sextus Congenius Verus.
- Scholarly records tie the inscription to 1860s excavations at Civitavecchia, with documentation showing it entered the local museum’s collection before the institution was heavily damaged in a 1943 bombing.
- The inscription states that Sextus Congenius Verus served 22 years in the Roman military and died at age 42, details that helped confirm its provenance and historical context.
- The FBI art crime team now holds the artifact as U.S. and Italian authorities coordinate its return to the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Civitavecchia for eventual display.