Sheriff: Families find more cases of disturbed graves as historic black cemetery in Illinois
By APFriday, July 10, 2009
More cases of disturbed graves at Ill. cemetery
ALSIP, Ill. — Authorities say more than a dozen more cases of disturbed graves have turned up at a historic black cemetery in Illinois where four people are accused of unearthing hundreds of corpses in a scheme to resell burial plots.
The Burr Oak Cemetery is the final resting place of lynching victim Emmett Till, as well as blues singers Willie Dixon and Dinah Washington. Investigators found Till’s original glass-topped casket rusting in a shack at the cemetery. The 14-year-old was killed in 1955 and his battered body helped spark the civil rights movement.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart on Friday said about 2,000 families have come to the cemetery trying to determine the status of loved ones buried there. Dart says there are 30 more cases of disturbed graves.
