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What are you waiting for?
This is very disheartening. I knew they would eventually set up a memorial of some kind, but who's names do you list since no one knows for sure, who is buried where?
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart on Friday said investigators are done collecting evidence of an alleged grave-re-selling scheme at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip. But it's unlikely that most of the 1,200 human bones recovered from the cemetery will ever be identified, he said.
It's also unknown when the cemetery will reopen to the public. It was declared a crime scene last month.
Dart said his investigators and special FBI forensics experts have gathered enough evidence to back up the criminal cases against four Burr Oak employees accused of digging up graves, dumping remains in piles or in shallow graves and then re-selling the plots. Three graves were exhumed last week, indicating evidence of illegal grave stacking. One man's body was found buried in a concrete vault without a coffin.
Tom Trautmann, the FBI's assistant special agent in charge in Chicago, said identifying all of the pieces is too unwieldy a job because of the terrible records kept by Burr Oak.
"We wish we could have fully identified all the remains recovered to give some sort of closure to the families who were affected by this unfortunate occurrence," he said.
Meanwhile, honoring the people buried at the cemetery will fall to the newly established Chicago Burr Oak Cemetery Historical Society.
Genealogist Tony Burroughs said the historical society will create a fitting memorial to the people whose remains never will be identified.
With local historians and representatives from the DuSable Museum of African American History, Bronzeville Children's Museum and the Historymakers, Burroughs wants to build a memorial over the larger of the cemetery's crime scenes.
"Chicago Burr Oak Cemetery must be returned to a sanctuary of respect," said Burroughs, who has relatives buried at the cemetery.
"Our goal is to ensure a lot of good comes out of this horrific tragedy," he said. "We want to preserve Chicago Burr Oak Cemetery as well as honor and respect the traditions, the history and the contributions of African Americans laid to rest at Burr Oak."
Roman Szabelski, the head of Catholic Cemeteries now tasked with the cemetery's operations, originally planned an Aug. 1 reopening but said Friday he doesn't know when the cemetery again will be ready for visitation.
Former Burr Oak employees Carolyn Towns, Keith Nicks, Terrence Nicks and Maurice Dailey were each indicted this week on seven felony charges, including theft from a place of worship and dismembering a human body. Dailey is free on bail. The others are in Cook County Jail.
All four will return to court for arraignment Aug. 26.
