Cemetery manager Carolyn Towns was sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to six charges including dismembering human bodies and stealing more than $100,000 from the cemetery corporation; workers dug up approximately 300 graves, dumped remains in a trash site, and re-sold the plots to new families.

Burr Oak Cemetery — Grave Desecration and Plot Re-Sale Scheme (2004–2009)

Outcome: Cemetery manager Carolyn Towns was sentenced to 12 years in prison after she and three workers dug up approximately 300 graves, dumped remains at a trash site, and re-sold the plots, pocketing over $100,000 in cash payments from grieving families.

Background

Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois, is one of the most historically significant African-American cemeteries in the Chicago metropolitan area. Notable interments include blues legend Muddy Waters, baseball player Dinah Washington, and civil rights martyr Emmett Till (who was later exhumed and reburied in a new casket). The cemetery holds enormous cultural and historic significance to the Black community in the Chicago area.

The Scheme

Beginning no later than 2004 and continuing until discovery in July 2009, Carolyn Towns — who served as the cemetery's manager and de facto director — orchestrated a systematic grave desecration operation with the assistance of three grave-digging employees: Keith Nicks, Terrance Nicks, and Maurice Daley.

The scheme operated in two ways:

1. Grave re-sale: Workers exhumed bodies from existing graves, crushed the vaults and caskets, and dumped the human remains at the cemetery's trash site. The vacated plots were then re-sold to new families, generating double revenue for the same burial space.

1. "Double stacking": In some cases, workers buried existing remains deeper into the ground and placed newly purchased caskets on top, misleading families about exclusive plot ownership.

1. Cash theft: Towns accepted cash payments from families of recently deceased individuals seeking to secure graves, then pocketed the money rather than applying it to the cemetery's accounts, while directing the gravediggers to bury the bodies in already-occupied graves.

Authorities estimated approximately 300 graves were affected, though shoddy and sometimes literally disintegrated record-keeping made it impossible to determine the true scope.

Discovery and Investigation

The scheme was discovered on July 9, 2009, when Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart executed a search of the cemetery. The entire cemetery was declared a crime scene and temporarily closed. Investigators discovered human remains and bone fragments at the cemetery's trash dump site.

Convictions and Sentences

All four defendants were charged. Carolyn Towns pleaded guilty to six counts including:

• Dismembering a human body


• Desecration of human remains


• Theft from a place of worship (theft exceeding $100,000 from the cemetery corporation)


• Damaging 10 or more gravestones


• Removal of human remains from a burial ground


• Conspiracy to dismember human bodies

Towns was sentenced on July 8, 2011 to 12 years in prison by Cook County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Fecarotta.

Keith Nicks received a 6-year prison sentence. Terrance Nicks received 3 years. Maurice Daley received 3 years of probation.

Civil Settlement

A federal judge approved a settlement plan on May 24, 2011. A $7 million insurance settlement was placed into a trust. The plan allocated:

• Approximately $2.6 million for cemetery renovation and operations


• At least $50,000 for a memorial honoring those whose graves were desecrated


• $100 per grave for families who could prove burial relationships, with additional compensation available for destroyed grave sites

The cemetery was reorganized under new management following the criminal case.

Primary Source: CNN — Ex-director of Illinois cemetery sentenced in burial scheme (July 9, 2011)