Chicago families still looking for answers after the Cook County Sheriff’s Office investigation into Burr Oak Cemetery allegations
Chicago authorities claim that they are finished collecting evidence at Burr Oak Cemetery and now admit that disinterred remains at the Illinois cemetery are likely unable to be identified. As a result, families may never know what happened to their loved ones' remains after an estimated 300 grave sites were desecrated.
The Cook County Sheriff's Office and the FBI's Chicago office had been collecting evidence at the Alsip cemetery since allegations were made that cemetery employees had dug up bodies from their gravesites and relocated them to a vacant lot on the premises while they resold the plots for profit. Four employees have been charged with dismembering a human body and other criminal counts. It is likely that the cemetery will also face civil liability for their alleged actions.
According to the report, investigators had collected 1,200 pieces of evidence, including bones, pieces of burial vaults and headstones. But because cemetery records were found to be disintegrated and rotting, investigators will not be able to identify the remains.
