Burr Oak Photo Database Completed PDF Print

Bonita Burns was thrilled to find the images of her loved ones' headstones on the Burr Oak Cemetery database website.

A searchable online database is now complete with more than 43,000 photos of the Burr Oak Cemetery, where four people are accused of digging up graves to resell plots.

The Cook County Sheriff's Department started cataloging digital photos of graves at the Alsip cemetery last month after reports that hundreds had been disturbed.

The database was posted online Tuesday at http://burroak.net/. It is searchable by last name.

For families, it's been agony watching and waiting for updates on a website to see if their loved ones' graves were intact. CBS 2's Jim Williams reports with one woman's bittersweet finding online.

Bonita Burns, whose father and grandmother are buried at Burr Oak, showed CBS 2 how she made sure their headstones were in good shape. She first put in the name of her father.

"It says, 'view image.' Then I hit enlarge, there it is," Burns said.

Now that she has seen the images of her loved ones' headstones, Burns said, "I'm completely satisfied and content."

Burns says she was easily able to find the headstones of other family members and some friends. She hasn't visited the cemetery since news of the scandal broke, so this was welcome information.

The FBI and the sheriff's department are done with their investigation onsite, but the cemetery remains closed to the public while court-appointed receiver Roman Szabelski collects records that were in disarray for years, sheriff's office spokesman Steve Patterson said in a news release.

Burr Oak Cemetery has 100,000 graves. Fewer than half actually have a headstone.

Information about unmarked graves has been computerized. The court-appointed receiver at the cemetery now has that information.

Questions about the cemetery should be directed to the receiver at (773) 233-5676 during business hours. Anyone concerned about a possible criminal matter at the cemetery can call sheriff's police at (800) 942-1950 or fill out a form on the site. 

Four people connected to the cemetery - an office manager and three gravediggers - have been indicted on felony charges, including dismembering human bodies and theft.