Family exhumes remains, finds Clinton Township cemetery reburied debris, pieces of casket

A Metro Detroit family had to go digging for answers after they were told a Clinton Township cemetery mistreated their father’s gravesite.

[Gerald.]

shout out to the worker who had the morals, character, integrity, empathy, and sympathy to notify the family when this occurred. It doesnt matter how often you handle caskets and bodies, you treat them with dignity- as if it was your own grave site. Let it slide and they think they get a pass.

[agentj]

I used to work as a caretaker in a cemetery and we accidentally broke open a crypt while digging an adjacent grave. It was an honest mistake by the backhoe operator. To correct the mistake, the cemetery contacted the sheriff's department, the county coroner, and the family about the incident. We then dug up the damage crypt, respectfully removed the casket, placed it in a new crypt, and reburied it. The family was not present (they opted not to be), but the county coroner did send an assistant as a witness to the exhumation and re-burial.
This cemetery is located very near a large lake and I will say that the casket was compromised. It was split open from the wood warping as water seeped into the crypt, so standard crypts only give so much protection from the elements and do deteriorate (more expensive crypts will last longer, but still will eventually breakdown). With that said, the cemetery should have contacted the family, had them present at the exhumation which would have given them the opportunity to replace the casket if it was so deteriorated, and then re-bury the remains in a new crypt. The actions here show that they were more worried about saving money than doing the right thing. Sad and inexcusable.

[Rammstein]

I'm the Son of a funeral director, and I can tell you first hand that a lot of these cemeteries are run by some really shady people.

[nomadpi]

No one fills a coffin with trash from a dump site, buries it in a person's grave by mistake. This was deliberate.

[maryanngeraghty]

It’s not about normal wear n tear. It’s how you just dumped the debris and concrete on top of their father. Total disrespect. This is appalling

[littlewize]

I wanna give a shout out to the Person Responsible For Telling the Absolute Truth, and doing the Right, And Honorable Thing by sending the Pictures to the family, and making them aware of Whats Happened to their Loved Ones...
You Did the Right Thing 👏 👍💯 🇺🇸 Thank You 🇺🇸

[kmprivacym]

Glad for the worker that couldn’t sleep without letting this family know.

[johnnyreb]

A worker with Honor told the truth. bless him.

[anitakristensen]

Someone was honest enough to take pictures, they need a pat on the back.

[FoNgThOnG]

Maintenance they said, as they buried debris and trash on her father's corpse. She needs to sue the hell out of them.

[blondeclb]

My bf mother died & was buried in Jamaica in 2010. A few years back they contacted the cemetery about a tombstone. But we were told that they don't know what plot is hers. Apparently they cemented over the plot number so now we don't know which one is hers. One would think you would count over from the last number that is legible....sorry to hear about this family. I can imagine how devastating this must be.

[jen]

"Believe what we say, not what you see!"
So sorry for the family's pain & sorrow

[sirarnie]

The coffin itself naturally deteriorated due to seepage, so I don't blame them for that. But there was no excuse for them to throw the pieces of the old vault in there. The cemetery workers were just being lazy and didn't want to properly dispose of it.

[richardhurtz]

I worked in a cemetery for years. People asked at times to be buried in a family plot that was already full. (12) bodies in the plot. They said, “there can’t be anything left after all these years.” In old graves with no vaults there is only some wood, metal and a few bones left. I’ve dug graves next to an old grave in a family plot. You can see a faint line about a 1/2 thick of color. That’s all that’s left of the body and coffin after all those years. Basically nothing, the ground sinks and we added more dirt to the surface to keep it level. The vaults, are so the ground doesn’t sink when the coffin collapses. Although a new grave will sink for 3 years as it settles. I’ve seen vaults that have broken open under ground. I’ve smelt the body juices and embalming fluid that will run out of a cracked vault when we dug in the grave next to it. I’ve been in double deep graves with the sides of vaults on both sides of me and on each end. N, S, E, W around you. I guarantee the vault broke open from ground water seeping in and the casket deteriorated. They picked up the pieces and put them in a new vault. Although we never put any deteriorated coffins in new vaults. I’ve dug bodies up to move them at the behest of family. I’ve moved whole vaults and just bodies. I’ve seen skulls, bones, bits of clothing and metal. I used to think being buried was some what respectful and clean. It’s not. I am going to be cremated. I don’t want to be under groundwater while my coffin deteriorates. I remember a girl whose mother was buried in the winter. A winter grave will sink a few feet by spring. She swore someone desecrated her mother’s grave. She wouldn’t listen to anything. She thought she was an expert on burying people all of a sudden.

[danielebrparish]

Concrete crypts are required to prevent ground subsidence. Concrete is porous so water seeps in and out causing the metal casket to rust and wooden ones to rot away. Mausoleums and above ground vaults preserve the remains for a much longer period with less maintenance.

[goatitisful]

Doing this to any human is evil, but doing it to a veteran???? I am disgusted. So glad this came to light.

[jaysonpida]

As other comments have stated --the maintenance crew probably broke this vault and quickly covered it up by throwing all the pieces into an 'extra' one the cemetary had on-site.... then mangement tried to cover up the 'hurry-up' job by lying.
Telling the truth and apologizing for the maintenance mistake AT THE TIME IT HAPPENED would've cost this cemetary a lot less then the lawsuit will.

[adf]

It's very irresponsible & heartless to do this to a deceased person's gravesite. At least the person who got evidence had a heart. I hope the family can get their justice.

[annmarie]

Trash in the casket? Sounds very suspicious. I hope the family sues and gets honest answers

[colinmccann]

That was total disrespect to the family and the deceased