I saw a story on TV today that floored me. It floored me almost to the point where I started shedding tears. It reminded me of a scripture in the Bible where Jesus is warning people of some of what would happen in what the Bible calls the "last days"...or the days before He returns to earth. In the book of Matthew, chapter 24, verse 12, Jesus says, "Because of the increase in wickedness, the love of most will grow cold..." Well believe me when I say this "wickedness" has a lot of people's hearts turning colder and colder...and it's in a way many of us had never imagined.
Alsip, Illinois is a southern suburb of Chicago...approximately 22 miles south of downtown. Alsip is the home of the Burr Oak Cemetary, a historic graveyard in which many African-Americans are buried there. In fact, Burr Oak was the first graveyard in the Chicagoland area that allowed blacks to be buried there. It is the place where Emmitt Till, a 13-year-old Chicago boy who was kidnapped and murdered in Mississippi, is laid to rest. Incidentally, his abduction and murder sparked the modern-day Civil Rights movement. But no one could've imagined the horror over 300 families are experiencing right now.
4 former cemetary workers are currently being held on bond...one of them with a $250,000 bond, and the other 3 on $200,000 bond. They're accused of either digging up graves at the cemetary, and dumping the remains in an open area in a rarely-visited part of the cemetary, or "double-stacking" graves on top of one another. According to investigators, 49-year-old former cemetary supervisor Carolyn Towns, along with 45-year-old Keith Nicks, 39-year-old Terrence Nicks, and 61-year-old Maurice Dailey schemed for 4 years to empty grave plots, and re-sell the empty lots to others for thousands of dollars. After the money was paid, it's alleged the 4 pocketed the money, and altered the records to try and cover their tracks. Towns is also accused of stealing money intended for a special Emmitt Till memorial museum. As of now, the accused are locked up in Cook County Jail, with each of them being isolated away from other prisoners due to the chance they'll be attacked. Towns is being held in a special mental health facility located on the prison grounds.
Many family members and friends of those who are buried at that graveyard are looking for their loved ones. As many as 300 bodies, if not more, have been disturbed by either being moved to a mass grave, or pounded deeper into the ground and another coffin placed on top of it. Those who are looking for their loved ones are justifiably angry, and are looking for answers. You know it's bad when the Reverend Jesse Jackson, a man who has repeatedly buried people at that cemetary, says in a news conference that "there's a special place in hell" for the accused.
Seeing those people looking for loved ones in this situation breaks my heart. Out of all the things I've seen in this world...especially since I started working in the media...I've never seen anything that would drive this much emotion out of me. I've reported on everything from deaths, to political corruption, to war, and other items that would crush a man's spirit. But this...what can you say? The fact that people are willing to do something as brazen and cruel as altering graves for money is dispicable. In fact...I can't think of any words that are legit in describing how evil this thing is. I'm too heartbroken over the grief many families are feeling at this moment...not because they had to bury one or several loved ones, but because they are the victims of such a selfish greed. It's being reported that Towns had a -gambling problem, and filed for personal bankruptcy several times in recent years. Still...all the personal financial problems one could have does NOT justify digging up graves for money. Now, while Towns and the others are rightfully in jail, hundreds of people are grieving not just the loss of a loved one, but the loss of their trust in people in charge of making sure their departed are resting in peace.
If you have a loved one, or know someone who is buried at Burr Oak Cemetary, and you feel that gravesite has been tampered with, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has set up a hotline you can call to try and get information. That number is 1-800-952-1950. Dart tells those who are trying to get info on their loved ones the process will be tedious and painstaking. The investigation itself could take months before all the details are discovered.
I ask you to please pray for those affected by this tragic crime. Pray for the families who are anguishing over their loved ones' graved being disturbed. Pray for the investigators that they may get to the bottom of this heinous crime. And even pray for those accused of doing this act...that they can not only see the foolishness of what they've done, but they can get some remorse and take responsibility for their actions.
"...the love of many will grow cold." With acts like this, it wouldn't surprise me at all if many people look at cemetaries with a much colder outlook.
Alsip, Illinois is a southern suburb of Chicago...approximately 22 miles south of downtown. Alsip is the home of the Burr Oak Cemetary, a historic graveyard in which many African-Americans are buried there. In fact, Burr Oak was the first graveyard in the Chicagoland area that allowed blacks to be buried there. It is the place where Emmitt Till, a 13-year-old Chicago boy who was kidnapped and murdered in Mississippi, is laid to rest. Incidentally, his abduction and murder sparked the modern-day Civil Rights movement. But no one could've imagined the horror over 300 families are experiencing right now.
4 former cemetary workers are currently being held on bond...one of them with a $250,000 bond, and the other 3 on $200,000 bond. They're accused of either digging up graves at the cemetary, and dumping the remains in an open area in a rarely-visited part of the cemetary, or "double-stacking" graves on top of one another. According to investigators, 49-year-old former cemetary supervisor Carolyn Towns, along with 45-year-old Keith Nicks, 39-year-old Terrence Nicks, and 61-year-old Maurice Dailey schemed for 4 years to empty grave plots, and re-sell the empty lots to others for thousands of dollars. After the money was paid, it's alleged the 4 pocketed the money, and altered the records to try and cover their tracks. Towns is also accused of stealing money intended for a special Emmitt Till memorial museum. As of now, the accused are locked up in Cook County Jail, with each of them being isolated away from other prisoners due to the chance they'll be attacked. Towns is being held in a special mental health facility located on the prison grounds.
Many family members and friends of those who are buried at that graveyard are looking for their loved ones. As many as 300 bodies, if not more, have been disturbed by either being moved to a mass grave, or pounded deeper into the ground and another coffin placed on top of it. Those who are looking for their loved ones are justifiably angry, and are looking for answers. You know it's bad when the Reverend Jesse Jackson, a man who has repeatedly buried people at that cemetary, says in a news conference that "there's a special place in hell" for the accused.
Seeing those people looking for loved ones in this situation breaks my heart. Out of all the things I've seen in this world...especially since I started working in the media...I've never seen anything that would drive this much emotion out of me. I've reported on everything from deaths, to political corruption, to war, and other items that would crush a man's spirit. But this...what can you say? The fact that people are willing to do something as brazen and cruel as altering graves for money is dispicable. In fact...I can't think of any words that are legit in describing how evil this thing is. I'm too heartbroken over the grief many families are feeling at this moment...not because they had to bury one or several loved ones, but because they are the victims of such a selfish greed. It's being reported that Towns had a -gambling problem, and filed for personal bankruptcy several times in recent years. Still...all the personal financial problems one could have does NOT justify digging up graves for money. Now, while Towns and the others are rightfully in jail, hundreds of people are grieving not just the loss of a loved one, but the loss of their trust in people in charge of making sure their departed are resting in peace.
If you have a loved one, or know someone who is buried at Burr Oak Cemetary, and you feel that gravesite has been tampered with, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has set up a hotline you can call to try and get information. That number is 1-800-952-1950. Dart tells those who are trying to get info on their loved ones the process will be tedious and painstaking. The investigation itself could take months before all the details are discovered.
I ask you to please pray for those affected by this tragic crime. Pray for the families who are anguishing over their loved ones' graved being disturbed. Pray for the investigators that they may get to the bottom of this heinous crime. And even pray for those accused of doing this act...that they can not only see the foolishness of what they've done, but they can get some remorse and take responsibility for their actions.
"...the love of many will grow cold." With acts like this, it wouldn't surprise me at all if many people look at cemetaries with a much colder outlook.
