**UPDATED** Final Resting Place Not So Final

Just imagine going to a cemetery to visit the grave of your loved one…only to find out that their body is not actually there!

Many families who have sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers or other family members buried in Burr Oak Cemetery near Chicago have learned the disturbing news that their loved one may or may not actually be in their final resting place.


The cemetery manager and three gravediggers concocted an elaborate scheme in order to resell plots. They would dig up graves at the cemetery, dump them in a weeded area at the back of the site, or place them in other graves so they could resell the plots.

A historical African-American cemetery near Chicago, Burr Oak Cemetery was for many years the only cemetery where African Americans could be buried. It has been the final resting place for many famous figures -- Civil rights lynching victim Emmett Till, blues singer Dinah Washington, bluesmen Otis Spann and Willie Dixon, Harlem Globetrotter Inman Jackson, and several Negro League baseball players.

Police raided the cemetery Wednesday morning under the suspicion of financial theft and discovered what was going on. The Sheriff’s office has reported that around 300 graves have been removed, and that the scheme has been going on for about four years.

A dozen FBI agents will be assisting the police in sorting through the evidence and identifying the bodies.

Meanwhile, the families will have to wait to hear of news, and prepare to lay their loved ones to rest once again.

**UPDATE**

CNN has reported that authorities have found Emmett Till's casket to be amongst the ones that were removed. It was originally reported that his grave had not been touched, as the cemetery workers claimed they left his grave undisturbed. Authorities found his casket carelessly discarded in an old garage, and "wild life" was found living inside it.

The story of Emmett Till's death is one that redefined the Civil Rights Movement.
"Emmett Till's lynching redefined emotions in our culture in very fundamental ways," Jesse Jackson said. "So to see his casket in this state of desecration and neglect is very painful."

It was the owners who called the police because they suspected some financial problems going on with the cemetery.

This is truly a sad and disturbing story. 2,000 families went to the cemetery to see if their loved ones' graves had been tampered with. My heart goes out to all of the families who laid loved ones to rest at the Burr Oak Cemetery.

My words are up.