Cemetery Abuse

Eden cemetery trial set for May ...plaintiffs presented sufficient disputable facts to proceed with the trial to determine whether Service Corp. International (SCI), owners of Eden Memorial Park, moved graves without telling family members, broke concrete coffin containers and then dumped the debris and human remains, and engaged in illegal practices to squeeze graves into spaces that are too small. SCI purchased Eden in 1985. About 40,000 people are buried at the 72-acre facility at Sepulveda Boulevard and Rinaldi Street, which has been in operation for more than 50 years. In November 2010, Mohr sanctioned SCI for tampering with evidence, after the plaintiffs showed that SCI had cleaned the cemetery dump in late 2009, soon after the judge ordered Eden to preserve all evidence related to the case. Attorney Calls State Report Exonerating Eden Memorial Shoddy and Inadequate California’s Cemetery and Funeral Bureau reviewed five years worth of audits and a June 2008 investigation into similar allegations and concluded that there is not enough evidence to support the claims. “The kinds of things that are being alleged are not easily hidden from view,” said Russ Heimerich, spokesman for the California Department of Consumer Affairs, which oversees the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau. “If thousands of bodies had been removed and the graves desecrated, there would be evidence of cracked or missing headstones, a much larger spoils pile [where excess dirt is dumped], and there might be bones in that spoils pile. Those are the kinds of things our auditors would catch.” Class Action Lawsuit Sanction for Suppressing Evidence	Los Angeles, CA
Ringleader of Burr Oak grave-selling scheme sentenced to 12 years	Chicago, Illinois	by Lolly Bowean	Jul 9, 2011
A Travesty of Justice” at Unearthed Graves El Pueblo Campo Santo	Los Angeles, California	by Richard Guzmán	Apr 9, 2011
Arlington National Cemetery Finds More Mismarked Graves	Arlington, Virginia	by Dick Eastman	Sep 17, 2010
Georgia: Crematory Operator Sentenced Scores of Bodies Strewn at Site Of Crematory	Noble, Georgia	New York Times By David Firestone with Robert D. Mcfadden	Feb 1, 2005 Feb 17, 2002
Menorah Gardens Cemetery	West Palm Beach, Florida		Dec 2001
Unearthed Graves, Sorrows	Princeville, North Carolina	by Sue Anne Pressley and Hamil R. Harris	Oct 30, 1999
Extended Journey To Final Rest	Athens, Greece	by Richard Boudreaux	Sep 11 1999
"Now We Know Why the Grass Never Grew ... They Never Stopped Digging"	Santa Fe Springs, California	by Kristen Davis	May 1999

Cemetery Abuse

Eden cemetery trial set for May

Attorney Calls State Report Exonerating Eden Memorial Shoddy and Inadequate