'Incredibly sick': Cape sand volleyball court closed after hidden knife injures teen

The Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department has closed the sand volleyball courts at Arena Park after a teenager suffered a cut to her foot Monday when she stepped on a knife buried in the sand.

At least one other knife was found buried in the sand, according to police.

Parks and recreation director Julia Jones said police were called immediately, and the courts will remain closed for a week. Adult sand volleyball league games have been postponed for the week.

According to a post on the city’s website, “Parks staff will be thoroughly checking the courts with metal detectors and rakes.”

Jones said once games resume, parks staff will check the two outdoor volleyball courts before the start of games each night.

She said city staff also are exploring whether to install security cameras at the courts.

Police Sgt. Joey Hann wrote in a text to the Southeast Missourian on Tuesday a police officer responded to the scene at 6:30 p.m. Monday.

“Two females in their teens presented him with two very small poorly made kitchen knives that they said were buried under the sand,” Hann wrote.

Police are investigating the incident, Hann said.

Jones called it “incredibly sick” for someone to bury knives in the sand courts.

She said, as far as she can recall, this is the first such incident at the sand volleyball courts.

Jones advised the public to come forward if they spot suspicious activity around the courts.

“See something, say something,” she said.

Cape Girardeau resident Melanie Rellergert Beard said in a Facebook post her daughter, Brennan, and her daughter’s friends have been playing sand volleyball recently.

Last Friday, she wrote, “my daughter’s friend discovered a paring knife, blade up, in the sand.” The friend set it aside, thinking it was an isolated incident, according to Beard.

On Monday night, Beard wrote one of Brennan’s friends stepped on another knife, blade up, and “cut her foot.”

Beard posted the girls “found two other knives buried in the sand close to the surface.”

Beard wrote, “These knives were obviously intentionally and maliciously planted by some sick individual.”

But according to police officer Ryan Anderson’s incident report, “it is unknown at this time if the knives were purposely placed in the sand and buried or if they were not deliberately put there to harm someone.”

Anderson described the two knives turned over to police as plastic-handled, “flimsy kitchen paring knives.”

mbliss@semissourian.com

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