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Page 1 of 2 FOR THE BURR OAK CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT CALL 800-773-1955
Every family's nightmare: Burr Oak Cemetery graves allegedly stripped for profit July 9, 2009
R.I.P SHATTERED | Manager, three gravediggers charged in scheme
At one time, Burr Oak Cemetery was the only place black Chicagoans were sure they could bury their dead.
But on Wednesday, the historic African-American cemetery became the site of a horror story.
As many as 100 human bodies - someone's grandfather, grandmother, father, son, daughter, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew cousin or friend - were removed from their graves and the plots resold.
The manager of Burr Oak Cemetery and three gravediggers were charged this morning, accused of scheming to dig up gravesites and resell them.
The four were expected to be in court this morning. The sheriff's office says caskets and remains were removed more than 100 graves and piled up in an unused area of the graveyard over several years.
"All of us who were working on this for the last week were pretty distraught," Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart told me.
"You start with the premise of your own loved ones and how they are cared for after they are buried, but there is also a true significance to this particular cemetery," he said.
"I've been by Emmett Till's grave several times. This is where his mother, Mamie Till Mobley, is also buried, and there is a long list of notable people buried here. This isn't an ordinary cemetery," he said.
Other well-known people buried in Burr Oak include jazz legend Dinah Washington; bluesmen Willie Dixon and Otis Spann; Harlem Globetrotter Inman Jackson; and several Negro League baseball players.
Officers raided the cemetery, at 4400 W. 127th St, in Alsip, Wednesday morning. Five people were taken into custody.
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