Burr Oak Cemetery grave desecration

An unknown number of graves have been dug up in the historic cemetery over the last several years and the bodies dumped in the rear of the burial ground so the graves could be resold by the cemetery management. Blues music legend Willie Dixon and civil rights figure Emmett Till are among those buried in the suburban Chicago cemetery.
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Burr Oak Cemetery is back in the news as the Cook County Sheriff's Police study, obtained by The Associated Press after filing a Freedom of Information request with the sheriff's department, suggests that the practice of stacking caskets on top of each other or simply discarding remains was more common at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip than anyone suspected, law enforcement officials said. The report comes six months after the department charged four former workers with taking part in a scheme in which they allegedly dug up graves and resold burial plots.

Questions persist

(Tribune photo by Alex Garcia / February 12, 2010)

Burr Oak Cemetery is back in the news as the Cook County Sheriff's Police study, obtained by The Associated Press after filing a Freedom of Information request with the sheriff's department, suggests that the practice of stacking caskets on top of each other or simply discarding remains was more common at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip than anyone suspected, law enforcement officials said. The report comes six months after the department charged four former workers with taking part in a scheme in which they allegedly dug up graves and resold burial plots.