Jul 9, 2009 9:10 pm US/Central
Cemetery Scam Delays Woman's Burial Indefinitely
ALSIP, Ill. (CBS) ―
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Relatives of Louise Caldwell have learned someone else is already buried in the woman's plot, delaying her burial.
CBS
You may have thought the situation at burr oak cemetery couldn't get any worse. It just did.
A beloved woman was set to join other relatives buried at the family plot, her eternal resting spot.
She never made it.
CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot has the heartbreaking day of the funeral that never happened.
"Right now I'm getting pretty upset," Dianne Dewbre said.
Dewbre came to Burr Oak Cemetery to bury her aunt, Louise Caldwell, only to learn someone else was already buried in her spot.
"What they are telling me is there is no space there, because there's another casket in there," she said.
Dewbre paid for a family plot here 12 years ago. Her grandparents and father were laid to rest here. When the area next to her dad was unearthed, that's when Dewbre says diggers made the startling discovery.
Dewbre is from Reno, Nev. She's now learning Burr Oak is the focus of a major criminal investigation. Cook County sheriff's police say between 200 and 300 bodies were dug up, then dumped here, so the plots could be resold for other burials.
Around 4 p.m., Dewbre says an office manager told her she could bury her aunt in a weed-filled area instead -- or do something else.
"They're suggesting to me, that my family that's been buried out here for over 40 years be moved somewhere else other than where they chose to rest," she said. "(They want) to move my family from where they belong because they can't accommodate me for what I own."
Two hours later, Dewbre says management told her the burial would take place after hours. Then, about an hour and a half passed, and she was dealt yet another blow.
"I cannot bury her tonight," she said. "The adjacent -- the family member of (the person in the casket) that is in my aunt's grave -- has to be contacted and permits have to be secured and approved by a judge."
That process could take one day to six months. The funeral home can keep Dewbre's aunt for up to seven days. She hopes the burial can take place by then. We called the cemetery spokesperson all day Thursday for a comment but never got a call back.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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