First Coast News

ST. AUGUSTINE, FL -- A Family never felt their  father’s headstone was where they  remembered gathering for thier father’s funeral. They  took thier  concern to the Evergreen Cemetery’s staff a handful of times in the last ten  years since the marker was placed.

“They couldn’t pull up any paperwork because they didn’t keep any accurate records,” Family members  said.

Rick Root is the President of the cemetery. He says the poor record keeping dates back to a time when Judy Watts worked at Evergreen. Watts was arrested in 2003 for selling plots that didn’t exist.

Three weeks ago, the cemetery staff invited the family to identify an unmarked grave, one that sat 100-ft away from where the family's love ones’ tombstone sat.

The vault had been uncovered, and the casket was revealed to the family. The family  said the casket looked like the right model that was chosen for his father,but it was'nt the right color , and the family wanted to be absolutely sure.

The family remembers telling the cemetery staff, “we don’t want to have to go through this again.”

So, the casket was opened.

“some family members  looked at his pants legs, but that’s as far as they was prepared to go,” The family stated.

 One sibling and a funeral home director identified the remains and the blue suit as those of the love one .

That was three weeks ago.

After a family member told First Coast News this story, this week, he dropped by Evergreen Cemetery. He found his father’s tombstone had still not been moved to the right grave.

“It upsets me and angers me. They’ve had ample time to move the marker,”  the family member stated.

First Coast News later called and spoke with Root. Root said the headstone should have been moved. While on the phone, he ordered a member of his staff to move the marker immediately.

The stone has been re-located. It now marks the right place, the place where love one has been resting for ten years.

Root says two other gravesites have been affected by the mix-up. He says he’s been working with the other families to rectify the problem.