sctimes.com
Ill. cemetery where graves dug up reopens
Posted 11/19/2009 1:29 PM ET
ALSIP, Illinois (AP) — A historic black cemetery, shut down after four former workers were accused of digging up graves in a scheme to resell burial plots, is open again.

Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip reopened Thursday morning. People boarded a bus across the street and were then driven into the cemetery to visit the graves of loved ones.

The cemetery had been closed for nearly four months after authorities arrested the four workers and began searching the grounds. They found more than 1,100 human bones, some strewn among overgrown weeds.

JULY: Thousands show up at Ill. cemetery as probe continues ON DEADLINE: 'Revolting' conditions led to charges

Authorities say they discovered evidence that plots were resold and some caskets were stacked on top of each other in the ground.

All four workers have pleaded not guilty.

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Posted 11/19/2009 1:29 PM ET
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, left front, cleans off a burial vault after it was exhumed with another vault in the same grave at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Ill., on July 31.
By Paul Beaty, AP
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, left front, cleans off a burial vault after it was exhumed with another vault in the same grave at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Ill., on July 31.

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