By Ken Serrano

Gannett, New Jersey - A man accused of giving an exotic dancer from South Plainfield a severed human hand stolen while he was a medical student pleaded guilty to theft Thursday, part of a plea deal that will spare him jail time.

By Eugene Tong, LA Daily News

GLENDALE, CA - When the end came, Geneva Hegemier had arranged to spend eternity beside her parents and grandparents in the family crypt at Grand View Memorial Park. But fulfilling her last wishes wasn't easy for her survivors because Grand View has been mired in financial and legal problems over the past year.

By Gordon Y. K. Pang, Advertiser Staff Writer

A man who pleaded guilty to stealing funerary objects from a South Kohala burial cave and selling them at a profit in June 2004 was sentenced in U.S. District Court Wednesday to a maximum of one year in prison.

By Kristen McQueary Staff writer

CHICAGO, IL - Raymond Kowal sat in his car Thursday morning at an Evergreen Park cemetery, watching quietly as the body of his daughter's killer was lowered into the frozen earth. Other members of his family stood at the entrance to St. Mary Catholic Cemetery, 87th Street and Pulaski Road, holding signs with Vicky Kowal's name -- protesting the cemetery's decision to allow Edward Smith to be buried there.

It should have been a dignified send-off for a much-loved mother and grandmother, This is London reports. Eileen Scriven's family were determined to have a traditional London funeral, complete with a pair of plumed black horses to pull the hearse. But an impatient bus driver turned the event into what the grieving family described today as "a public spectacle". Determined not to be held up, the driver was apparently seized by a fit of road rage and pulled out from a bus stop before attempting to push his way past the funeral cortège. His shouting and revving of the bus's engine spooked the horses that were pulling Mrs. Scriven's coffin, covered in floral tributes and cards.

By WCNC Staff

CHARLOTTE, NC - A Charlotte man is demanding answers from the York Memorial Park cemetery, after he says they sold a plot of land his mother had previously purchased. Timothy Harden says several years ago his mother bought a specific plot in the cemetery so she could be buried next to her husband, who died in 1993. When Harden’s mother Verna died two years ago, a stranger was already buried in that spot.

GRESHAM, Ore. - Gresham police say they've arrested two men who videotaped themselves stealing the gold teeth from the body of a man who committed suicide in a transient camp.

By Jason McKee

Chester, PA - The splendors of the ancients will be unveiled Saturday for millions to see. Treasure found in the tomb of the famous Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun in 1922 will be on display at the Franklin Institute, an exhibit that has drawn record crowds in three other American cities. "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," will run from Feb. 3 to Sept. 30.

Caltanissetta, Italy - Police in Sicily arrested dozens of tomb raiders, smugglers and art collectors Wednesday as part of an international probe into the illegal trafficking of archaeological artefacts.

Essay By Bob Redell

My assistant news director posed an interesting hypothetical: If you could give anyone a digital camera and have him or her take pictures, who would it be? Of course, my 7-year-old daughter came to mind, because I want to know what in the world she's doing when I'm not around. Or ... maybe I don't. But, oddly enough, the other person I thought of was the caretaker at the Golden Gate National Cemetery.

By Franklin Hayes, Gulf Breeze News

Santa Rosa County, FL - Santa Rosa County Commissioners are planning to develop a historical cemetery board in order to designate the county's antiquated burial sites as historical landmarks. The effort gained momentum after the Coon Hill Cemetery in Northern Santa Rosa County was vandalized in late December. County and city officials estimate the site sustained approximately $50,000 in damage.