Jacksonville Injury Lawyer Blog

Burr Oak Cemetery questions hopefully will be answered by the Cemetery Oversight Task Force. The head of Illinois’ newly formed Cemetery Oversight Task Force says she hopes to have a community meeting about the alleged wrongdoing at Burr Oak Cemetery.

Patricia Brown Holmes is a former prosecutor and juvenile court judge. She’s currently a partner with Chicago law firm Schiff Hardin LLP.

Holmes said Monday she wants to hear from the community about allegations that workers at Burr Oak in south suburban Alsip dug up remains and stacked bodies to resell plots.

Holmes says her father and infant brother are buried at Burr Oak. And at least two other members of the nine-member task force have relatives buried at the cemetery.

Holmes says the task force’s mission is to find out how the situation at Burr Oak developed and how to keep it from happening again. If you or a loved one has been the victim of a mortuary mistake or a cemetery scandal be sure to contact an experienced funeral home lawyer.

As a Florida funeral home abuse lawyer I have investigated many horrible cases of cemetery abuse but the recent Burr Oak Cemetery scandal is one of the largest ever. Six cemetery lawsuits were filed Friday by roughly a dozen families injured by the outrageous actions that have been uncovered at Chicago-area Burr Oak cemetery. The lawsuits name Perpetua and the four criminally-charged employees as defendants and seek damages for the extremely outrageous conduct. According to the Chicago Tribune, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has said that investigators have not been able to find markers for a “Baby Land” section where infants had been buried. Starting today, relatives can go only near the front entrance of the cemetery and pass along their information to sheriff’s personnel about people they are trying to locate at Burr Oak Cemetery. If you have been the victim of Florida funeral home abuse, Florida cemetery negligence or a Florida cremation mistake make sure to call an experienced Florida funeral home attorney.

At the historic Burr Oak Cemetery outside Chicago a disgusting scandal has erupted.  Four cemetery workers have been charged with dismembering bodies after police found what they called “startling and revolting” conditions at a historic cemetery near Chicago.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says workers at the Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip allegedly dug up more than 100 graves, dumped the bodies into unmarked mass graves and resold the plots to unsuspecting members of the public.

Prosecutors have charged 49-year-old Carolyn Towns, 45-year-old Keith Nicks and 39-year-old Terrence Nicks, all of Chicago. Also charged was 61-year-old Maurice Dailey of Robbins. Each was charged Thursday with one count each of dismembering a human body, a felony.

It wasn’t immediately clear if they had attorneys.

Burr Oak is the final resting place of many famous African-Americans, including lynching victim Emmett Till.  If your loved one has been the victim of cemetery re-selling of their plot or grave please call an experienced cemetery lawyer.

Some funeral home mistakes are beyond outrageous. The son of an Alabama woman whose body was
found decomposing in the back of a hearse says he thought
his mother’s remains had been cremated two years ago.
Ted Kirby of Chattanooga, Tenn., said he can’t believe what
happened after the death of his mother, 52-year-old Edna Kathleen
Woods, in November 2007.
The owner of a Gadsden funeral home was charged with corpse
abuse this week after police found Woods’ decomposing remains in
the back of a parked hearse. Police say the funeral director told
them the woman’s family never paid him.
But the woman’s son said that’s not true. He said an insurance
company told him it had paid for funeral services. If your love one has been the victim of a funeral home mistake please call the Law Offices of Henry E. Gare at (904) 387-6101 for a free consultation.