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| Topic: This is just so wrong... | |
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http://cbs2chicago.com/local/burr.oak.charges.2.1078567.html Jul 9, 2009 6:28 pm US/Central Up To 300 Bodies May Have Been Dug Up At Cemetery 4 Charged With Disturbing Bodies, Re-Selling Graves ALSIP, Ill. (CBS) ― Four people have been charged after up to 300 bodies were removed from their graves and the plots were resold at the historic Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip. Carolyn Towns, 49; Keith Nicks, 45; Terrence Nicks, 39, all of Chicago; and Maurice Dailey, 59, of Robbins, have all been charged with dismembering a human body, a Class X felony, according to Cook County State's Attorney's office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton. A Class X felony is punishable by 6 to 30 years in prison. Towns is office manager of the cemetery, while the other three are gravediggers. Towns was ordered held on $250,000 bond Thursday, and the other three were ordered held on $200,000 bond each. An Aug. 6 preliminary hearing date has been set. All four of the people charged in the investigation have been booked into Cook County Jail, which means they did not post bail after their court sessions, according to Cook County Sheriff's Dept. spokesman Lonny Levin. At the bond hearing, CBS 2's Vince Gerasole learned that the operation run by Towns involved her re-selling the graves and taking the money, and compensating the three men with overtime pay. Keith Nicks was the foreman. His brother Terrence Nicks drove the cemetery dump truck. And Dailey operated a back hoe. Towns would tell the men to go dig up a body, put them in a shallow grave and then put a new body in the original disturbed grave. Keith Nicks has a lengthy criminal record, although he was only ever found guilty of disorderly conduct. He was charged at various points with assault, domestic battery and violating an order of protection, but the charges were dropped. Towns has no prior criminal charges. Criminal background information for Dailey and for Terrence Nicks was not immediately learned. Chopper 2 HD captured new and disturbing video from the cemetery Thursday morning. The messy scene showed crushed concrete, likely from a burial vault that had been destroyed. Dart said Wednesday that his office learned that employees of the cemetery have dug up hundreds of graves, dumped the bodies in a mass pile in an unused portion of the graveyard and then resold the plots to other customers. The cemetery owners went to authorities with the allegations in the case about six weeks ago. The scheme was uncovered when two employees discovered what appeared to be human remains scattered about what should have been a vacant part of the cemetery that employees called "the dump." One of the employees said he found numerous remains while practicing his grave digging skills using a backhoe on what he thought was vacant land. An unsuspecting person would buy a burial plot for a cash payment, and afterward, one of the gravediggers disinterred an existing grave and dumped the body somewhere in the back of the cemetery. The burial plot buyer never found out, Dart said. Towns was at the center of the operation, both pocketing the payments and directing the gravediggers, Dart said. The scheme may have netted the four defendants as much as $300,000 over the past three or four years, Dart said. "The records are in shambles here. The actual sites are not well marked. It's very difficult to ascertain what is where," Dart said. "So this is going to take some time, so we've been trying to plead with the public as much as we ask for patience, because it's going to be needed now." It is believed the operation had been going on for four to five years. The owners have been in charge of the cemetery for the past six years. The forensic investigation is going to take months to perform. Five cemetery employees are assisting the sheriff's office in the investigation, on which almost 100 sheriff's employees are working, Cook County Sheriff's spokesman Steve Patterson said. The FBI is also assisting in the investigation, looking for possible federal violations, FBI Chicago Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Tom Troutman said. Family members of those buried at the cemetery were arrived in droves Thursday morning, wondering if their loved one's final resting places had been disturbed. A total of 346 families inquired about their relatives' graves, and of those 346, 20 have reported problems at the gravesite, Patterson said. The Rev. Jesse Jackson said at the news conference that his Rainbow/PUSH coalition had been receiving frantic calls throughout the night from people all over the country who have relatives buried at the cemetery. "The idea of graveyard robbers, in my judgment, there should be no bail for them," Jackson said. "There should really be a special place in hell for these graveyard thieves." Burr Oak Cemetery is the final resting place for many prominent African-Americans, including Emmett Till. His plot was not disturbed. Till is the teenager from Chicago who was brutally murdered in 1955. His death in Mississippi helped spark the Civil Rights Movement. CBS 2 has learned that Towns is the administrator for the Emmett Till fund. Dart alleged at a Thursday news conference that Towns was pocketing money from that fund. She is listed as the contact person for the Till Historical Museum at the Burr Oaks Cemetery. But no such museum exists or was ever built, Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said. Blues legends Willie Dixon and Dinah Washington are also buried in the cemetery. The cemetery is now owned by Tucson, Ariz.-based Perpetua Inc. If you have loved ones buried at Burr Oak Cemetery and want to check on their well-being, call (800) 942-1950 or send an inquiry to BurrOakCemeteryInvestigation@gmail.com Anyone who donated money to the Emmett Till Historical Museum fund is also asked to call the number above. |
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They're dead. So really, what's the difference.
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They're dead. So really, what's the difference.  
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They're dead. So really, what's the difference. What? What if your family member would have been dug up from their grave or smashed down so another casket could be places on top of it? not to mention.."Carolyn Towns, 49; Keith Nicks, 45; Terrence Nicks, 39, all of Chicago; and Maurice Dailey, 59, of Robbins, have all been charged with dismembering a human body, a Class X felony, according to Cook County State's Attorney's office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton. " but if you don't see anything wrong with doing this....  |
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They're dead. So really, what's the difference. They are dead so what's the difference? The dead may very well not care, but I think the living that payed good money to bury their loved ones care very much that human beings would be so despicable and dishonest. The difference between no conscience and a conscience maybe? |
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They're dead. So really, what's the difference. 
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I've always told my kids to use me as fuel for a BBQ or find a convenient dumpster to avoid any expense of disposing of my remains. By the time I get thru with this body the worms would reject it!
 But it is about respect. Many do take stock in a "final resting place" and spend enormous amounts to provide for them. I personally want something along the lines of a Viking funeral. Just put my wasted corpse in a gas soaked old boat and send me down the river in flames. 
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soj yep i told my son to throw me on the body farm at the fbi research center bugs gotta eat to 
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They're dead. So really, what's the difference. It matters to their families. |
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They're dead. So really, what's the difference. It matters to their families. it is also theft those lots were paid for and documents issued stating such |
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I just watched the follow up to this on the news. It sure is a mess and many bodies are not able to be ID'd without expensive testing to determine who's bodies have been dug up and thrown into a "garbage" area.. this is just so sad for the families... |
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They're dead. So really, what's the difference. Bad Karma. Total disrespect. Unethical, Greedy, Morally wrong on all levels. What's the difference? Do it to me and I will haunt you. Not to mention the pain to the family. 
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I read about this very briefly on the trin on the way into work earlier.
I was wondering how these people thought they would actually get away with it. People do care about and visit their dead relatives! |
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for various reasons, I had Gregory cremated. We really did not want to be "tied" to a graveyard somewhere. I could not even imagine what I would do if someone did this to my family member... I cannot even imagine how anyone came up with this idea... was everyone just thinking how to make some money and one of them said..."Hey, I know...let's dig up graves and throw the bodies in the back area and re sell the grave site..." "sure thing Vern...no problem, count me in!!" It just is beyond my understanding how some people can think up this ****!! |
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Yeah this is pretty messed up, not how to treat people, holy disrespect, stacking bodies to resell. You push a persons greed button and they will do just about anything....
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They're dead. So really, what's the difference. Would you like someone digging up your momma? |
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