Several people with relatives buried at Mount Glenwood are checking on gravesites. Some say they always thought something was wrong with the cemetery.
"When my brother-in-law passed in 1995 I always believed that it was moved then because we requested that my brother-in-law be buried close to my mother and the way they shifted things then I had a question," said Deborah Fields.
Norma Roseman has a family plot at Mount Glenwood where eight relatives are buried.
"Nothing, nothing but an empty area here. I've counted it over and over and over again and this is where it should be," said Norma Roseman.
"I know where they had this headstone is not where my father was laid to rest," said Vincent Hunter.
Ruthie Osborne's husband died in the Vietnam War. She can't find his gravesite.
"I went to the cemetery and the headstone was gone and it was a military headstone," said Osborne.
The discovery of the human bones falls on the heels of the scandal at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Ill., where graves were dug up and plots were resold in an alleged cemetery scam. The alleged scandal at Burr Oak has the state looking at new regulations.
No one at Mt. Glenwood has been accused of wrongdoing. The owner of Mount Glenwood is at the site.
"I'm so sorry because of what's going on at Burr Oak naturally they're concerned and we do not want them to be one bit concerned. And if they'll just hang tight with us and let us have the investigation it will come out," said Jeannie Walsh, owner, Mt. Glenwood Memory Gardens.
Lawsuits have been filed.
"My clients had reason to believe that there was something wrong at Mount Glenwood. They weren't getting the answers they needed and their last resort was to file suit," said Bardia Fard, lawyer. "These people are not innocent because they're messing with the dead, I wouldn't be able to go to sleep if I did these things," said Osborne.
While the owner said the situation at Mt. Glenwood is nothing like that at Burr Oak, several families had documentation that questions about the cemetery's practices were raised quite some time ago.
"I've heard a lot of different things from other people out here as far as you having only rights for 25 years," said Roseman.
The Cook County Sheriff's Department is investigating, but there is no indication of any wrongdoing at this point, police said.
Beginning Tuesday, July 28th, Cook County Sheriff's Police investigators will be available to meet with members of the public who would like to file reports of suspicious and/or criminal behavior at Mount Glenwood Memorial Gardens.
Investigators will be at the Markham Courthouse (16501 South Kedzie Parkway, Markham) between 9am and 5pm for the remainder of this week (hours and availability beyond this week are TBD). Anyone interested in meeting with an investigator should proceed directly to the sheriff's police department offices, accessed by the ramp on the south end of the Markham court building.
