May 9, 2005

HOMEWOOD (CBS 2) One family has experienced a Mother's Day nightmare. They tried to visit their deceased mother at a suburban cemetery, but what they found horrified them.

Exposed wooden caskets, cement vaults, boxes filled with the remains of someone's family; people long dead and supposedly buried: this is where Sidney Clark fears he'll find his long lost mother.

“All they tell you is that it's up the hill in the corner," he said. “As far as I could get was that my mother is somewhere around here."

Burdine Clark died back in April of 2001. Her children say they paid $3,000 to bury her in the peaceful country setting of Homewood Memorial Gardens in south suburban Homewood. "But we didn't see her go in the ground. I don't know where she went to," Clark said.

There is no marker for Burdine, her kids couldn't afford one. So, for four years, the family has been visiting the general area where they thought she was buried. Every Mother's Day they come, but yesterday they found a zone of unearthed coffins, tossed headstones and the stench of decaying flesh.

"It's just like throwing them away," Clark said.

Landscape supervisor Rudy Casillas explained the mess: bulldozers have moved in more dirt to build up the land for extra room to bury more unclaimed bodies on top of old gravesites, a common practice. And he apologized for the gruesome sight of an ongoing project.

"Before the end of the day is even over, this will be leveled off anyhow," Casillas said. “I just got bitten in the butt."

The caretaker of the cemetery declined to talk with us, though she did assure Clark that his mom's final resting place has not been dug up, it is row 26, plot #30.

Clark said, "My mother was a loving caring person. I think she deserved more than this."

According to an industry association, cemeteries are not required to place markers on plots for which family members say they will not be buying a tombstone. It is common, though, for them to use a grid system to locate those unmarked plots. It's how the caretaker found Burdine Clark's plot.

Also, it is common for cemeteries to stack unclaimed bodies. The site we visited was where Cook County's unclaimed bodies are buried.


Sylvia Gomez
http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_129180105.html