It was a line of people so sad and lost, they might have been refugees from a war, or a natural disaster.
More than 1,000 came to Eisenhower High School on Sunday seeking information about loved ones buried at Burr Oak Cemetery -- or so they thought.
Stephanie Jackson (left), whose daughter Charrhonda Tisdale Ford, was buried at Burr Oak, said, "I can't go in there and find her. That's my only daughter. My only daughter."
A grave-selling scandal at the Alsip cemetery has layered new misery on old grief.
Stephanie Jackson was near the graveyard Sunday with a poster that asked: "Where is babyland?" -- the children's section of the cemetery.
Her daughter, Charrhonda Tisdale Ford, 4, was buried in the section after a 2001 accident. Sheriff Tom Dart has said Babyland's headstones are gone.
"I can't go in there and find her. That's my only daughter," said Jackson, 36, of Posen. "My only daughter."
She visited the grave in May and it looked intact. But looking back, "her tombstone kept rising up. . . . Do I think my daughter is buried on top of somebody? Yes."
Then there was Betty Moore. "My two little grandbabies, they were buried in Babyland. They're gone. Just gone. I don't know where they are."
Darris Smith, 1, and Keasha Thompson, 4, died in a 1987 car crash. Moore clutched a program from their funeral with photos of the bright-eyed babies.
In other news:
• Starting today, the sheriff's office will take relatives' requests for information only via phone or e-mail (1-800-942-1950; 708/865-6070; burroakcemeteryinvestigation@gmail.com.) More than 7,000 requests have been filed; 400 have been processed. Investigators have been hampered by "disastrous" cemetery record-keeping, said spokesman Steve Patterson.
• Today, the FBI begins "an active search of the area where we think human remains may be found," said spokesman Ross Rice.
• The Rev. Jesse Jackson invited relatives to come to his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition headquarters at 6 p.m. Tuesday to meet with lawyers on possible lawsuits.
• Some heard of the scandal at family reunions. "I was just distraught," said Johnnie Coleman, who was in Covington, Ga.
• State Comptroller Dan Hynes and state Sen. James Meeks said they will push for regulation of cemetery owners. Hynes also said he'll file a complaint against the cemetery's owners to put Burr Oak in receivership and in the hands of ''responsible owners.''
