Nearly 100 Bodies Dug Up, Burial Plots Resold At Burr Oak Cemetery: Police

ALSIP, Ill. — Workers at a historic Illinois cemetery may have dug up more than 100 bodies and dumped them in mass graves at the back of the 150-acre property in a scheme to resell plots to unsuspecting customers, authorities said Wednesday.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said his office was questioning five employees from Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, about 20 miles southwest of Chicago. But no charges were announced and investigators were working to determine how many plots may have been resold.

The sheriff's investigation began six weeks ago when the cemetery's owner reported that an employee who began feeling guilty revealed what allegedly had been going on, possibly for as long as four years, Dart said.

"All of us who were working on this for the last week were pretty distraught," Dart said. "You start with the premise of your own loved ones and how they are cared for after they are buried, but there is also a true significance to this particular cemetery."

Chicago native Emmett Till, whose 1955 lynching at age 14 added impetus to the civil rights movement, is buried at Burr Oak. It's also the final resting place of singers Dinah Washington, Willie Dixon, and Otis Spann, as well as former world heavyweight boxing champion Ezzard Charles, Harlem Globetrotter Inman Jackson, and several Negro League baseball players.

"For many years, this was the only cemetery where African Americans could be buried," said Spencer Leak Sr., president of Leak and Sons Funeral Home, noting that Burr Oak once was owned by Ebony Magazine publisher John Johnson.

Dart said the scheme appears to have targeted older, unmarked graves that had not been visited in a long time. There was no indication the more famous sites were disturbed.

Perpetua Holdings of Illinois, Inc., a subsidiary of a Tucson, Ariz.-based funeral home and cemetery development company, has owned the cemetery since 2001. A message seeking comment was left Wednesday for the company president, listed on corporation records as Melvin Bryant of Richardson, Texas.

The Cemetery Care and Burial Trust Department, a division of the Illinois Comptroller's office, has said it has received complaints in recent years about poor upkeep at Burr Oak, including sunken or tilting gravestones, unmanageable roads, drainage problems and weeds.

Comments

[LightBright74]

My Paternal Grandparents are both buried here in unmarked graves (Dad's desire). I went to Burr Oak about 6 years ago to find their graves and it took over 2 hours to locate their plots with the "aid" of cemetary workers. It was my first visit to the cemetary to visit with the Grandparents I never met. I pray they are resting in peace. The toll free number given to contact Burr Oak and the Sheriff department is not working. This is devastating!

[JFaye]

I am not one to visit graveyards other than the depositing of a body.

Yet, I empathize with family members who feel betrayed and helpless in this situation.

Given, the remains of these bodies were dug up and not properly disposed of for greed, makes this a horrid crime and nothing more.

I can only hope they get a jury of their peers.

[econobiker]

Yes, church yard cemetaries were often recycled in Europe for years. Kind of a safety net for the rotting and decomposition of bodies outside of fertile growing land. One Shakespeare play even has two of the characters digging up the graves to reuse them.

These cemetaries of old often generated decomposition gases which made people think of ghosts when the gases expelled from graves, or were lit off by static electricty, or settled in lower lying areas as a fog like vapor...

[Palemoon]

We have a cemetary behind our house. Several years ago they exhumed alot of the bodies, pretty much wrote off the rest, then re-opened it for business and have been having steady funerals back there for a few years now. Guess it's just business as usual in America.

[NoblesseOblige]

Sadly, this is not news. This has been going on for thousands of years in the UK and in Europe. That is precisely why I wan to be cremated. Even Shakespeare warned those who might mess with his "bones".

[HekmabaJuzimax]

I KNEW IT! That's why I want to be sh.ot out of a cannon toward the moon when I die, at least I can say I was an astronaut (OK, just an as)

[ohiomark]

How many of them will vote in the next election?

[LeeCalif]

The question is how many of their relatives will vote in the next election.

[NHBill]

Donate what you can. Cremate the rest. But whatever you do stay away from the funeral biz!

[RJII]

that's my plan

[GreatTruthsSeeker]

I feel very, very sorry for the families and wonder where the bodies are. This is very abnormal in our culture, and proabably criminal.

This is, however, a common (and known before burial) practice in some parts of the world. In Hallstatt Austria, which is a tiny village carved out of the mountains on the edge of a very pristine Alpine lake, this occured due to the lack of space. People were buried for a set period of twelve years and then removed for others to be buried. Many of their bones were put on display in the "Bone Museum" which is attached to the cemetery, with their skulls lovingly painted with flowers and arranged next to each other. This practice was discontinued in the early 1960's, coinciding with the decision of the Catholic Church to allow cremation. I wish I could describe the degree of care that is taken with the existing grave sites and the museum. Each grave site is planted with an incredible myriad of flowers and is cared for meticulously by surviving family members, as is the Bone Museum. It is an absolutely beautiful graveyard.

What occurred in Burr Oak cemetery is a tragedy. It does not reflect the respect for the deceased or their families that is in evidence in Hallstatt.

[weatherwaxx]

You might be surprised how widespread this practice is. Call any cemetary sales office and ask how long they guarantee 'perpetual rest.'

[the964kid]

Damn thats cold, but won't that eventually happen to us all?? I mean there's only so much space. Hundreds of years from now lots of graves will be dug up and re-cycled, and even today countries like Japan already have a big problem with cemetery space.

[dst1]

In many parts of Germany the plots are RENTED to the family. If they can't pay the graves are removed and resold. The resale happens often as families moved away or the last ones die.

[the964kid]

Yep I heard that.

[gcallaghan]

Who got the gold teeth?

[JFaye]

The undertaker ...

[whoknew42]

THIS IS WHY I WANT TO BE CREMATED!!!

[PerryWhite]

I hope you don't have any gold in your teeth.

[SpencersMom]

Did they go ahead and sell the organs of the exhumed remains, too? Otherwise, they're really not maximizing their recycling profit potential.

Truly disgusting behavior driven by money.

PEACE

[Bluejay00234]

Wow, shameful.