Hundreds of bodies dug up in Chicago grave reselling scheme

ALSIP, Ill. — Authorities Thursday sharply increased the estimate of the number of bodies disinterred at Burr Oak Cemetery in a suburb of Chicago in a scheme to illegally resell grave sites.

Two hundred to 300 bodies were dug up and dumped into an isolated, weedy area of the cemetery, where many prominent African-Americans are buried, including Emmett Till.

Former cemetery manager Carolyn Towns, 49, foreman Keith Nicks, 45, and dump-truck operator Terrence Nicks, 39, all of Chicago, and backhoe operator Maurice Dailey, 59, of Robbins, Ill., were each charged with one count of dismembering a human body, a Class X felony. They all face up to 30 years in prison.

Authorities are also investigating an Emmett Till Memorial Fund that Towns set up for a museum in the slain teen's memory. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart and State's Attorney Anita Alvarez asked for the public's help in tracking donations to the fund, set up in 2005.

The charges against Towns, the alleged scheme's mastermind, allege that "numerous graves were excavated and the human remains were then buried in a rear vacant lot in Burr Oak cemetery, Alsip. ... She then sold the vacant grave sites for her own personal financial gain." Authorities said she earlier had been fired by the cemetery's owners because of theft allegations.

The four were able to successfully carry out the scheme, prosecutors said, because bereaved relatives often came into the cemetery office to buy grave sites with cash. Towns would take the cash and destroy the deeds and other paperwork for the existing graves, they said. Towns would keep the cash and pay off the other defendants by increasing their overtime pay, which she controlled as cemetery general manager.

The scheme was discovered when a cemetery worker practicing on a backhoe dug up some of the remains and went to police.

Detectives found a pile of bones, above ground and uncovered, in an overgrown, fenced-off portion of the cemetery, according to Dart.

In addition, bodies apparently were double-buried in existing plots, Dart said. Dozens of FBI agents are expected in Chicago early next week to help sift through the evidence at the cemetery, Dart said.

"We're going to be here months," Dart said. "There are not going to be quick answers here."

Tom Troutman, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Chicago field office, said investigators have "got to map the whole graveyard."

Agents will use electronic equipment to search for anomalies that might indicate where there are more bodies than there should be, Troutman said.

At the Rev. Jesse Jackson's behest, a woman who said she has had 23 relatives buried at Burr Oak took the microphone briefly during the news conference at the cemetery. Myrtis Palm Dean said families are thinking of a class-action suit.

"I have grave sites that haven't even been used, headstones that are missing," said Dean. "There is no need for this. This is sacred ground."

One of the first predominantly African-American cemeteries in the Chicago area, Burr Oak is the resting place of many historic figures, including civil-rights symbol Till, blues legend Dinah Washington and heavyweight boxing champion Ezzard Charles.

Dart said he was certain Till's remains were not disturbed, but he could not be sure about the others.

Dart said he believes the alleged scheme has been going on for about four years. The disinterred graves appeared to be older, neglected ones, Dart said. "They specifically looked to older graves, where there might not be someone coming out there every week," he said.