Around 5 p.m. Saturday, Debra Cooper, tattoo legend Roy “Roy Boy” Cooper’s ex-wife and business partner, arrived at the Grand Army of the Republic cemetery in Watseka, Illinois, equipped with a shovel, blanket and dolly.
With her late husband’s headstone missing from the family plot since Tuesday, she decided to take son Diamond Cody Cooper’s headstone and put it somewhere else.
“I didn’t want my son to be there alone without his dad,” Cooper, co-owner of The Badlands at 3844 Broadway in Gary, said Sunday morning. Roy Boy was known for his tattoo studio and the tigers he kept there, until they were confiscated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2010, shortly before he died.
In the process of trying to dig up her son’s headstone, which she said was too heavy to move, Debra Cooper slipped a little bit and moved some grass. She found Roy Boy’s headstone, which looked as though someone had intentionally covered it up.
“I was in shock,” she said, admitting her nerves have been jangled since she learned his headstone was missing.
Ashley Camp and her fiancé, Cody Wallenius, who own Easy Tiger Tattoo in Merrillville, ventured to the cemetery Tuesday to visit Roy Boy’s gravesite and make a rubbing of his headstone. Camp has said they discovered the headstone was missing and contacted the cemetery caretaker and Debra Cooper.
Roy “Roy Boy” Cooper’s headstone at a cemetery in Watseka, Illinois, was discovered missing on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025. It has since been returned. (Debra Cooper/provided)
Cooper said after she found Roy Boy’s headstone, she called the Iroquois County police and the cemetery caretaker, Dave Farris, who told her the grave marker was still missing on Thursday.
She thinks somebody got scared and brought Roy Boy’s headstone back.
“I’m thankful it’s back because I was just really depressed,” she said, adding she plans on going back to clean up the family plot, which also includes Roy Boy’s sister, Candy, who made his headstone and that of their son before she died.
Cooper said she is grateful for the tattoo community, the media and everybody else for spreading the word that Roy Boy’s headstone is missing.
Farris, the cemetery caretaker, told her he tried to adjust the cemetery’s security cameras to reach the family plot but that didn’t work, so he pledged to keep a closer eye on the spot.
He also told Debra she can put up a webcam, which she plans to do. Debra, who offered a free tattoo to whoever returned Roy Boy’s headstone, thinks someone stole it to sell it.
Regardless, it’s back where it belongs.
“I’m just happy,” she said. “I’m still in shock.”
alavalley@chicagotribune.com
