Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Just too Gross - Burr Oak Cemetery is in a TON of Trouble

For those of you wondering what all the police, helicopters, etc. were all about today, here you go:

~From Chicagobreakingnews.com~

Dozens of graves have been dug up in historic Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip and the bodies dumped "in a massive pile on cemetery grounds," the Cook County sheriff's office says.

No details were immediately available, but Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart plans to hold a news conference at the gates of the cemetery in 4400 block of West 127th Street in the south suburb at 5 p.m.

His office says Dart will discuss the results of a financial crimes investigation at the cemetery, where many famous African-Americans are buried, including Emmett Till, Willie Dixon and Dinah Washington.

***** UPDATE**********
For at least the past four years, employees were excavating entire burial casks - including the concrete vault that surrounds the coffin - moving them to the area on the north end of the property and then smashing them into pieces, Dart said.

The sheriff's department started investigating the cemetery six weeks ago when the owners contacted the department, Dart said.

"It seems some people have some consciences and it bothered them," Dart said.
The investigation started as a financial crimes probe, but it soon took a turn, he said.
"What we found was beyond startling and revolting," Dart said.

He said the employees taking part in the scheme would bury new bodies in the plots, but would do so off the books so that the cemetery's records would not show their treachery. From the outside it would appear the bodies were never moved, he said.


Search This Blog plus more