Tribune photo by David PieriniKeith Nicks, the grounds superintendent at Burr Oak Cemetery talks to reporters on Tuesday, May 5, 2009 about drainage problems at the cemetery. Nicks is one of four people charged with dismembering a human body as authorities say as many as 300 bodies at the Alsip cemetery have been dumped "in a massive pile on cemetery grounds" so the plots could be resold.
Nancy Stone, baiduhaiFamilies who have had relatives buried at Burr Oak Cemetery fill out forms with information about their loved ones July 12, 2009, at Dwight D. Eisenhower High School.
Tribune photo by Zbigniew BzdakA pile of broken pieces from cemetery vaults sits inside a fenced off area of Burr Oak Cemetery according to the Cook County Sheriff's office.
Chuck Berman, baiduhaiCook County sheriff's investigators gather on the grounds of Burr Oak Cemetery on July 12, 2009, as they continue to look into the removal of bodies from gravesites.
Tribune photo by David PieriniThe grave site of a Korean War veteran has fallen in at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip. The graveyard's Arizona-based owners aren't saying what the problems are behind the flooding and poor upkeep there, nor will they say when they'll likely be fixed.
Nancy Stone, baiduhaiRaetta Morris, left, of Chicago, and her sister, Lutia Payne of Country Club Hills, give information on their father and Morris' daughter, both of whom were buried at Burr Oak Cemetery, to Cook County sheriff's police Sgt. Jill Wermes on July 12, 2009.
Zbigniew Bzdak, baiduhaiLamar Collins, 33, with girlfriend Actavia Jones, 30, visit the grave of Collins' mother at the Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip on July 7, 2010.
Nancy Stone, baiduhaiRelatives fill out forms with the help of Cook County Sheriff's Office officials, who are trying to locate the families' loved ones in Burr Oak Cemetery.
Michael Tercha, baiduhaiInvestigators work at Burr Oak Cemetery on July 14, 2009, as they continue the arduous process of tracking down desecrated graves and locating bodies that were dug up and dumped.
Zbigniew Bzdak, baiduhaiSimeon Wright, Emmett Till's cousin, visits the Till gravesite July 10, 2009, at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip.
Chris Sweda, baiduhaiCounty sheriff's officers turn back a family trying to get into Burr Oak Cemetery on July 9, 2009. Dozens showed up to check on graves after news broke that the cemetery's management was digging up graves, tossing bodies in a pile on the grounds and reselling plots.
Tribune photo by David PieriniCook County Sheriff's Police Chief DeWayne Holbrook greets a woman at the entrance of Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip. Families with loved ones buried there flocked to the cemetery after news of an investigation uncovered evidence that dozens of graves were dug up and bodies dumped in a massive pile on cemetery grounds.
David Pierini, baiduhaiRabbi Joshua Salter, left, reads a mourner's kiddush while he and the Rev. Steve Jones walk the grounds of Burr Oak Cemetery on Nov. 18, 2009.
Tribune photo by David PieriniFamilies with loved ones buried in Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Ill., flock to the cemetery after news of an investigation that uncovered evidence that dozens of graves were dug up and bodies dumped in a massive pile on cemetery grounds.
Michael Tercha, baiduhaiCook County sheriff's employees on July 13, 2009, create a database of the nearly 7,000 forms filled out in recent days by people searching for gravesites at Burr Oak Cemetery.
Chris Sweda, baiduhaiRelatives of loved ones congregate around a headstone July 9, 2009, as people check on burial sites at Burr Oak Cemetery.
Tribune photo by David PieriniJanie Bibbs, of Blue Island, sits outside Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Ill. after having checked on the grave of her father. Bibbs said her father's head stone was askew.
Zbigniew Bzdak, baiduhaiHeadstones are laid out at Burr Oak Cemetery on July 11, 2009, as an investigation continues.
Tribune photo by David PieriniTed Campbell of Country Club Hills weeps after searching for the grave of his mother at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip. Campbell said his mother, Zelean Campbell, was buried with a proper marker in a spot that is now a mound of dirt scattered with unplaced markers.
Tribune photo by David PieriniJanet Perkins of Chicago checks a grave at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Ill. Perkins said she has more than 30 relatives over four generations buried at the cemetery. "This supercedes Michael Jackson," she said. "This is beyond belief."
Tribune photo by David PieriniGwendolyn Hicks tells reporters at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Ill. that her son's grave was moved without permission and that she had previously reported it to authorities.
David Pierini, baiduhaiThe Rev. Rod Reinhart of St. Joseph & St. Aidan Episcopal Church in Blue Island uses incense July 21, 2009, to bless the ground at Burr Oak Cemetery.
Alex Garcia, baiduhaiFour former workers at Burr Oak were charged with taking part in a scheme in which they allegedly dug up graves and resold burial plots.
Michael Tercha, baiduhaiSome of the nearly 7,000 forms filled out in recent days by people searching for gravesites at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip.
Chris Sweda, baiduhaiA man looks at debris underneath plywood July 9, 2009, at Burr Oak Cemetery. Authorities say 200-300 graves have been dug up over the last several years and the bodies dumped in the rear of the property so the gravesites could be resold.
David Pierini, baiduhaiInvestigators and workers hoist a burial vault from a grave at Burr Oak Cemetery on July 31, 2009.
Zbigniew Bzdak, baiduhaiEmmett Till's original casket sits in disrepair July 10, 2009, on the grounds of Burr Oak Cemetery.
Photo for the baiduhai by Warren SkalskiRev. Steve Jones, left, and Father Dan Mallette, right, both chaplains for the Cook County Sherrifs Department, say prayers and bless the ground, by sprinkling holy water, at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip. Authorities say that, over the last several years, more than 100 bodies at Alsip's Burr Oak Cemetery were dumped "in a massive pile on cemetery grounds" so the plots could be resold. The cemetery's new owners alerted authorities after finding discrepancies in records.
Zbigniew Bzdak, baiduhaiAngena Smith, 66, holds a picture of her husband, Robert, on July 11, 2009, as James Saffore, 69, (out of view) holds a picture of wife, Cora, at Burr Oak Cemetery.
Michael Tercha, baiduhaiCook County Sheriff's Office recruits arrive to help canvass Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip on July 14, 2009.
Chuck Berman, baiduhaiA file cabinet filled with ruined, fused together and unreadable records found in an office at Burr Oak Cemetery in 2009.
Michael Tercha, baiduhaiInvestigators canvass the northeast corner of Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip on July 13, 2009.
Michael Tercha, baiduhaiRandom gravestones lie in the grass July 13, 2009, at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip.
Tribune photo by Michael TerchaAn investigator photographs a headstone at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip after it has been cleared of tall grass and weeds.
David Pierini, baiduhaiA cemetery worker helps a man look for the grave of a loved one Nov. 19, 2009, at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip.
Tribune photo by David PieriniA man checks a grave at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Ill. as families with loved ones buried there flocked to the cemetery after news of an investigation uncovered evidence that dozens of graves were dug up and bodies dumped in a massive pile on cemetery grounds.
Michael Tercha, baiduhaiRoxie Williams testifies July 27, 2009, about family members who are buried at Burr Oak Cemetery during a House subcommittee hearing at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse. The Rev. Jesse Jackson joins her.
Tribune photo by David PieriniA woman cleans off a grave at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Ill. People arrived by the dozens to check on graves at the cemetery after news broke that bodies had been dug up and dumped in a massive pile on the cemetery grounds.
Tribune photo by David PieriniThe grounds at Burr Oak Cemetery.
Tribune photo by Michael TerchaLot markers are piled near a tree on the northeast corner of Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip.
David Pierini, baiduhaiElzie Banks, of Matteson, is the first person to arrive at the Burr Oak Cemetery "transportation center" at 12250 S. Cicero Ave. on Nov. 19, 2009, so he could check on the graves of his father and sister.
David Pierini, baiduhaiAn investigator replants a hotline sign on Kostner Avenue near the entrance of Burr Oak Cemetery on July 15, 2009. FBI and Cook County sheriff's officers uncovered a mass grave and scheme to resell gravesites.
Tribune photo by David PieriniGroundskeepers at Burr Oak Cemetery, a historic burial site for many prominent African-Americans, say visitors drive over graves to avoid flooded roads there.
Zbigniew Bzdak, baiduhaiWillie Esper, an employee of Burr Oak Cemetery, reportedly blew the whistle on the alleged scheme to resell gravesites at the cemetery.
Michael Tercha, baiduhaiInvestigators arrive at Burr Oak Cemetery on July 13, 2009. An FBI forensics team plans to conduct a visual search of the cemetery, hoping to eliminate sections from the crime scene, officials said.
Tribune photo by David PieriniWater collects near the grave of Emmett Till at Burr Oak Cemetery. Till, the 14-year-old Chicago boy who was kidnapped and murdered in 1955 in Money, Miss., was accused of whistling at a white woman. Till's death helped bring national attention to the brutality of segregation.
Zbigniew Bzdak, baiduhaiCook County Sheriff Tom Dart briefs the media July 11, 2009, on the progress of an investigation at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip.
Terrence Antonio James, baiduhaiMarissa Redmond, right, of Chicago, becomes upset July 10, 2009, as she searches for the graves of her mother and brother at Burr Oak Cemetery. A cemetery worker is at left.
Chris Sweda, baiduhaiA Burr Oak Cemetery employee, far right, meets July 9, 2009, with anxious people who have come to ask about loved ones buried at the Alsip cemetery.
Tribune photo by David PieriniA rain-soaked teddy bear is separated from its placement at a grave at Burr Oak Cemetery.
Tribune photo by Antonio PerezFamily members and friends of Carolyn Towns, the former Burr Oak Cemetery manager, leave the courthouse at 26th and California in Chicago following the bond court hearing pertaining to the Burr Oak Cemetery scandal. Towns and three others are charged with digging up and dumping hundreds of bodies in a scheme to illegally resell grave sites, authorities allege.
Tribune photo by Chris SwedaJacqueline Perry points out new found spaces around her mothers headstone at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip. She also believes the headstone lays higher above the ground than it did eight months ago when she visited last.
Michael Tercha, baiduhaiJanice Lusk talks to reporters about her concern for family members buried at Burr Oak Cemetery as investigators arrive on the scene July 13, 2009.
Terrence Antonio James, baiduhaiCook County Sheriff Tom Dart on Aug. 7, 2009, announces that evidence-gathering efforts at Burr Oak Cemetery have ended.
Chris Sweda, baiduhaiRelatives of loved ones buried at Burr Oak Cemetery, including cousins Uyconia Hardin and Yasmin Hardin, walk the grounds July 9, 2009, to check on the well-being of their buried family members.
Michael Tercha, baiduhaiInvestigators canvass the northeast corner of Burr Oak Cemetery for clues.
Tribune photo by David PieriniBrenda Ray of Chicago holds a photo of her brother, Herbert, who is buried at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Ill. Ray said she will back every day until she finds out if her brother's remains were disturbed.
Terrence Antonio James, baiduhaiPeople board buses July 10, 2009, to begin searching for relatives at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip.
Michael Tercha, baiduhaiInvestigators clean off overgrowth and photograph headstones at Burr Oak Cemetery on July 14, 2009.
Tribune photo by David PieriniIsaac Jackson, 51, of Chicago, shows reporters the obituaries of his father, Issac, and grandfather, James Coleman, at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip as he waits to be let in to check on their graves. Jackson is one of many who came to the cemetery after hearing graves at the cemetery had been dug up.
Tribune photo by David PieriniThe Rev. Jesse Jackson comforts Myrtis Palm at Burr Oak Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Ill. Palm and others came to the cemetery to check on the graves of family members.
Zbigniew Bzdak, baiduhaiAn investigation into the desecration of gravesites continues July 11, 2009, at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip.
Michael Tercha, baiduhaiDwight Robinson, whose parents were buried at scandal-plagued Burr Oak Cemetery, testifies at a U.S. House subcommittee hearing July 27, 2009, at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago. Politicians vowed tougher cemetery rules.
Chris Sweda, baiduhaiA Burr Oak Cemetery groundskeeper helps family members July 9, 2009, as they try to locate the caskets of loved ones buried at Burr Oak Cemetery.
Tribune photo by David PieriniFamilies with loved ones buried at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, gather to see if their relatives graves were disturbed.
Tribune photo by David PieriniA man checks out graves at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Ill.
Nancy Stone, baiduhaiRelatives hold pictures of loved ones who had been buried at Burr Oak Cemetery while filling out forms about their relatives July 12, 2009, at Dwight D. Eisenhower High School.
David Pierini, baiduhaiJacquline Raspberry holds a broken ceramic image of her father, Jerome Raspberry, that had been attached to his grave at Burr Oak Cemetery on July 9, 2009.
William DeShazer, baiduhaiWillie Carter, left, Marguerite Gatling, center, and her husband, Lafayette Gatling Sr., right, talk with an attorney outside U.S. Bankruptcy Court in 2010 after a judge approved the sale of Burr Oak Cemetery to Cemecare.
Tribune photo by David PieriniFamilies walk the grounds of Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Ill. as they check on family graves. People with family or friends buried at the cemetery flocked there after news that an investigation uncovered evidence that dozens of graves were dug up and bodies dumped in a massive pile on cemetery grounds.
David Pierini, baiduhaiShaun Norwood, left, helps his aunts Lueanna Hayse and Marie Mayes look for the grave of their mother, Mary Horne, at Burr Oak Cemetery on Nov. 19, 2009.
Chuck Berman, baiduhaiCook County sheriff's officers mark areas of interest at Burr Oak Cemetery on July 12, 2009, as investigators attempt to sort out the removal of bodies from the cemetery.
Michael Tercha, baiduhaiA section marker at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip.
Tribune photo by David PieriniCarol Perkins, of Chicago, is comforted by Dalana Dunn at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Ill. after coming to the cemetery to check on family graves.
Chuck Berman, baiduhaiStephanie Jackson, of Posen, cannot find the headstone for her 4-year-old daughter, Charrhonda Tisdale Ford, who was buried in 2001 in Burr Oak Cemetery.
Antonio Perez, baiduhaiState Comptroller Dan Hynes announces the start of license revocation proceedings against the owner of historic Burr Oak Cemetery, Perpetua Holdings of Illinois, on July 10, 2009.
Zbigniew Bzdak, baiduhaiPeople leave flowers and markers to honor the dead July 11, 2009, at Burr Oak Cemetery.
Zbigniew Bzdak, baiduhaiHeadstone remnants sit on the grounds of Burr Oak Cemetery on July 10, 2009. Investigations continue at the cemetery where three gravediggers and a manager are accused of unearthing hundreds of corpses in a scheme to resell burial plots.
Chris Sweda, baiduhaiRelatives of loved ones buried at Burr Oak Cemetery leave as cemetery officials and police prepare to close July 9, 2009. A number of graves have been dug up and the bodies dumped so the graves could be resold by cemetery workers.
David Pierini, baiduhaiThe Rev. Isaiah Grover, left, places his hand on the shoulder of the Rev. George Jones during an interdenominational service July 21, 2009, at Burr Oak Cemetery near Alsip.
Michael Tercha, baiduhaiSheriff's Work Alternative Program participants clean overgrowth from headstones at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip on July 14, 2009.
Nancy Stone, baiduhaiRelatives fill out forms July 12, 2009, that will be used by Cook County sheriff's officials trying to locate the remains of people whose graves were desecrated by former cemetery employees.
Chris Sweda, baiduhaiJacqueline Perry, Sylvia Gholston and Shereese Coleman react upon seeing the gravesite of Wilma Coleman (mother of Jacqueline and Sylvia and grandmother of Shereese) at Burr Oak Cemetery. The family it may have been tampered with.
AP photoBoxer Ezzard Charles is best known for his wins as a heavyweight. Charles rests in Burr Oak Cemetery.
Tribune photo by Zbigniew BzdakAccording to the Cook County Sheriff's office, this hole covered with plywood is an area inside Burr Oak Cemetery showing a mass grave. An unknown number of graves have been dug up in the historic cemetery over the last several years and the bodies dumped in the rear of the burial ground so the graves could be resold by the cemetery management.
Chuck Berman, baiduhaiVera Tucker, of Alsip, holds a program from the 1985 funeral of her daughter, Shawaun, on July 12, 2009. Tucker said the gravesite was one of the ones disturbed at Burr Oak Cemetery.
Michael Tercha, baiduhaiA newer section marker stands behind one in disrepair at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip.
Zbigniew Bzdak, baiduhaiShirley Jackson clears the grave marker of her mother after finding it with help from Burr Oak Cemetery's staff in 2010. She also found her granddaughter's grave.
Zbigniew Bzdak, baiduhaiHeadstone remnants are strewn in a structure on the grounds of Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip.
Tribune file photoSinger, songwriter, arranger and record producer Wille Dixon was instrumental in shaping the post-Wold War II Chicago Blues sound. Dixon rests in Burr Oak Cemetery.
Tribune photo by Chris SwedaAdrienne Curtis, Tamika Davis and Pakeela Berry worry about the remains of loved ones burried at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip.
Tribune photo by Antonio PerezAttorney Steven Watkins representing Carolyn Towns, who along three others has been charged with digging up and dumping hundreds of bodies at Burr Oak Cemetery in a scheme to illegally resell grave sites, talks with the media at the courthouse at 26th and California in Chicago following the bond court hearing pertaining to the scandal.
Zbigniew Bzdak, baiduhaiJennifer Gyimah, 51, shows a photo of family members buried at Burr Oak Cemetery on July 11, 2009.
Tribune photo by David PieriniGrounds superintendent Keith Nicks pulls up a sewer gate while pumping floodwaters from a road at Burr Oak Cemetery.
Terrence Antonio James, baiduhaiKen McCarroll, of Country Club Hills, searches for the graves of his grand aunt, great grandmother, uncle, grandfather and aunt at Burr Oak Cemetery. Asked whose sites he'd found thus far, McCarroll replied, "No one. No one. No one."
Zbigniew Bzdak, baiduhaiCook County Sheriff Tom Dart and Emmett Till's cousin Simeon Wright talk July 10, 2009, about Till'?s original casket, which sits in disrepair at Burr Oak Cemetery.
Tribune photo by David Pierini
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Keith Nicks, the grounds superintendent at Burr Oak Cemetery talks to reporters on Tuesday, May 5, 2009 about drainage problems at the cemetery. Nicks is one of four people charged with dismembering a human body as authorities say as many as 300 bodies at the Alsip cemetery have been dumped "in a massive pile on cemetery grounds" so the plots could be resold.
ExpandBy Lolly Bowean | For Chicago Magazine
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The former director of historic Burr Oak Cemetery was sentenced to 12 years in prison Friday for her role in a macabre scheme reselling occupied burial plots and dumping their first human remains in a hidden field.
Carolyn Towns, 51, of Blue Island, pled guilty in a Bridgeview courtroom to six charges, including desecration of human remains, removal of the remains of multiple deceased people from a burial ground and conspiracy to dismember multiple human bodies.
She was one of four cemetery employees charged two years ago when the grave-digging scheme was exposed. Backhoe operator Maurice Dailey, 61, of Robbins; and foreman Keith Nicks, 47 and dump-truck operator Terrence Nicks, 41, both of Chicago, are scheduled to appear in court next week.
“I’m pleased the ringleader of this scheme is being held accountable for her horrific actions,” said Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, whose office first investigated the cemetery and made the arrests. “The damage done to the families who had loved ones buried at Burr Oak is unforgivable.”
In July 2009, authorities revealed that workers at Burr Oak were reselling graves and dumping hundreds of old remains in an abandoned, weed-covered lot, Dart said.
The discovery shocked the region’s black community because of the cemetery’s special significance to African-Americans. Burr Oak was the area’s first cemetery to allow blacks to be interred there, and countless African-American families would bury relatives there over the years. The cemetery is home to Emmett Till, singing icon Dinah Washington and boxing great Ezzard Charles.
Towns was accused of stealing more than $100,000 from the corporation that operated the cemetery, officials with the Cook County state’s attorney’s office said.
Prosecutors said Towns would accept cash payments from grieving families and keep the money. She would then instruct the gravediggers to bury the bodies in plots that were already occupied. In some cases, the diggers would stack new coffins on top of old ones, authorities said. Or they would remove the old remains and bury the new ones there.
News of Towns’ sentence brought some relief to frustrated relatives such as Donetta Newman, of Alsip, who spent days searching the cemetery to locate her father’s gravesite.
“I still don’t know where the remains of my father are,” Newman said. “When I pass the cemetery, I see funerals still taking place and it is so sad to me. I’m glad the justice system worked.”