Bone found in cemetery storage area leads to probe

[Whisper]

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) --
Authorities will investigate an Illinois cemetery after a bone found on the ground there was determined to be human, a sheriff's spokesman said Saturday.

On Friday, a worker dropping off vaults at Mt. Glenwood Cemetery, in Glenwood, Illinois, noticed a bone lying on the ground, Cook County sheriff's office spokesman Steve Patterson said in an e-mail.

The bone was located in an area where vaults, old headstones and other cemetery materials are stored, Patterson said.

The worker contacted authorities and the bone was taken to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office, which determined that it was human, Patterson said.

"Based on that information, the sheriff's police will now start an investigation, which will include interviewing those working at the cemetery, among others," he wrote.

"I don't know whether this is a sign of a greater problem or if there is a valid reason why this bone was found where it was."

The discovery comes days after three people filed a lawsuit against the cemetery alleging "unauthorized tampering with grave sites, including the apparent removal of a headstone," according to a court document posted on the Chicago Tribune's Web site.

Attempts to reach the cemetery for comment were not successful.

Patterson acknowledged the lawsuit, which was filed in the Cook County Circuit Court on Monday, but said he did not "know if there is a correlation between the civil suit and this bone."

He said there was no reason for authorities to close the cemetery.

Additional details on the bone were not immediately available.

Earlier this month, authorities said workers at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois, dug up hundreds of graves and resold them.

Four people face felony charges for their alleged involvement
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/25/illinois.cemetery.bone/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

[Aslan]

"I don't know whether this is a sign of a greater problem or if there is a valid reason why this bone was found where it was."

I've never gone to mortuary school or whatever but I am incredibly curious as to why that whole 'valid reason' thing was tossed out.
Maybe the person who died requested their bones (not ashes) be scattered about?
Maybe it was an undertaker's idea of a scavenger hunt (clues to be found in various coffins)?

[carolinablue]

now this is just peculiar. you expect to find bones in a cemetery, but under the ground, not lying around as if they had fallen out of someone's pocket. i would be interested in finding out more; i can't imagine why one bone would be just lying around. no other bones? no dug up graves?

[malq]

My first thought was is it possible animals are scattering bones.
That's not uncommon.
My next thought was some deranged person was scattering bones from a body and thought no one would think much of it it in a cemetery>>??
And last if a body was exhumed or moved for any reason maybe a bone was outed. However you would think most bodies go in caskets. I don't know that much about it though. Do they just drop bodies in the ground?

[Rockin Ma]

The situation in Alsip has unearthed some difficult memories of what happened and sometimes still happens to less fortunate black people.
Troubled by the Burr Oak scandal, Carol Priestly walked the grounds at Mount Glenwood cemetery looking for the graves of relatives. She found the plots of her mother and grandmother but understood that she'd never find the grave of her father who was buried in the same cemetery in 1941.
Because they didn't have the money they rented it for 20 years. And then after 20 years they dug up the bones and put it in a mass burial style," said Priestly.
Founded in 1908 when racial segregation was at its worst, Mount Glenwood is the oldest black cemetery in the Chicago region. When the city's African-American population exploded during the mid 20th century's great migration, the Jim Crow graveyards that also included Burr Oak in Alsip sold hundreds of thousands of less expensive, temporary plots called 'select singles.' At the ends of their terms, it's agreed the graves can be re-opened and the bodies sometimes moved to mass, unmarked burial sites on the properties.
South Side funeral director Augustus Cage told ABC7 the non-perpetual care plots are still popular."Select singles are very frequently sold within cemeteries that have a large black clientele," said Cage.
A funeral industry source told ABC7 that most of the plots at Burr Oak Cemetery are outside the perpetual care section and that digging into old graves and moving remains would not be an unusual occurrence there or at most other black cemeteries.
On Thursday, Governor Quinn appointed a task force to examine for-profit burial grounds in the state. Seven of the nine members on the panel are African- American, a strong indication they'll focus on historically black cemeteries.
"Not only did we bury people's bodies there, we buried our history there," said Dr. Damon Arnold, task force member.
Funeral directors told ABC7 they suspect that many people searching for graves at Burr Oak might not realize their plots may have been limited by the contracts their ancestors signed.

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=6921124

[Death Bed]

I have some ancestors buried out in the woods somewhere in Kinston, NC. There are markers on their graves though, but they are from the mid 1800's and therefore hard to decipher. This is on my dad's side of the family.

On my mom's side, I had an uncle that died when he was a kid from polio (this was about 70 years ago) and my great grandma couldn't afford to bury him.

[Chaindrive]

Interesting. I've never heard of renting a plot.

[MC30]

Interesting. I've never heard of renting a plot.

i don't think you can anymore...from what i gather it was a ploy to make people pay for nothing and there was just a common, well, body dump site....Nastyness and when i say that i don't mean the bodies, the intention of duping people in their time of need.

[carolinablue]

i didn't know this, thanks for posting it. you learn something every day on this site. that said, what a mean thing to do. just ugly. there are other ways to make money.:frown2: