Three gravediggers and the manager of a cemetery dug up hundreds of corpses from a historic African-American cemetery in Alsip, Illinois, just south of Chicago, dumping some of them in a weeded field and double-stacking others in the graves of others.
It was all part of an elaborate scheme to resell the cemetery plots, authorities said. All four parties were charged with felonies.
Distraught relatives of the deceased converged on Burr Oak Cemetery, which also happens to be the resting place of lynching victim Emmett Till, with the hopes that their loved ones’ remains were not among the pile of bones that littered the fields of Alsip.
Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez and the Reverend Jesse Jackson spoke at a press conference on Friday.
Rev. Jackson called this a “heartless act.” Jackson also talked about the possibility of initiating a class action lawsuit.
The investigation is expected to take many weeks, possibly even months, and investigators will be on site. It isn’t necessary to visit immediately, however, you can call 1-800-942-1950 (inside the U.S.) or 1-708-865-6070 (outside the U.S.) for more information.
Related articles by Zemanta
- Police: Graves dug up in scheme to resell plots (cnn.com)
- Over 100 Up to 300 Graves Dug Up For Reselling (chicagoist.com)
- Historic black cemetery near Chicago desecrated (ctv.ca)
- FBI probes grave-reselling scheme (thestar.com)
Incoming search terms:
Get Blippitt via RSS feed, Facebook, Twitter, Google+,
and be sure to get our Daily Email Broadcast.
