Chicago woman devastated after west suburban cemetery removed mother's headstone

HILLSIDE, Ill. (WLS) -- The ABC7 Chicago I-Team is investigating why a cemetery took a headstone away from a grave.

After a loved one dies, many people seek emotional closure by visiting that final resting place.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

But one local woman says four years after her mother's death, she must go to an empty gravesite to pay her respects.

"My family heart is broken because of what we are going through right now," Earlene Price Jennings said.

Austin neighborhood resident Price Jennings says she can't find closure after her mother Grace's death in 2022 because the 87-year-old's tombstone was removed.

"And I requested for them to have her here. Stone down on Mother's Day 2023, and they told me they would so on Mother's Day. I went and it was there. So I went back Aug. 9, 2023, and it was taken up. It was gone," Price Jennings said.

In a photo taken by Price Jennings, the headstone is still in the cemetery. But it was placed by a nearby building.

"It's just lying, just lying there," Price Jennings said.

It all started when she paid the Fountain Jordan Shepard Funeral Home in South Austin $1,675 for the headstone and its delivery to the Oakridge-Glen Oaks Cemetery in west suburban Hillside. That cemetery told the I-Team it removed the stone because they require bronze in that area where Grace was buried.

SEE ALSO: New IL legislation proposal aimed at reforming how medical examiners ID bodies, notify family

"I almost passed out. I was done. I was totally done. It was just a shocker to me. I couldn't figure out why was it missing?" Price Jennings said.

She says she didn't know about the cemetery's requirements. And the cemetery told the I-Team that it's the funeral home's responsibility to know the rules and that "any vendor such as funeral home, monument company, etc. should always double check with the cemetery's rules and regulations."

Price Jennings also believes the funeral home is responsible, sharing a cemetery headstone form, signed by the funeral home. The cemetery wrote "bronze only" on the form but somehow "granite" was still checked in a box. In an email, the funeral home blamed Price Jennings, saying she told them she would provide documentation from the cemetery approving granite.

But the cemetery says it is still the funeral home's responsibility to verify.

Fountain Jordan Shepard Funeral Home also said it's committed to customer satisfaction and it "has proactively extended multiple good-faith offers to Mrs. Jennings. These proposals have included various alternative solutions aimed at achieving a satisfactory outcome that aligns with cemetery regulations. Regrettably, each of these constructive proposals has been consistently declined by Mrs. Jennings."

Price Jennings says she never declined an offer.

"Just give me some justice for my mom. That's all I want," Price Jennings said.

The funeral home also told the I-Team on the phone it would replace the headstone as a "courtesy," but that hasn't yet been done.

The funeral home did not comment further on the cemetery's policy, saying that funeral homes must directly work with them.

When picking out a headstone, make sure to know the rules and regulations and that all the parties are communicating.