Bodies Desecrated at Burr Oak More Extensive Than Expected

By Chuck Sudo in News on Mar 21, 2011 2:07PM

AP Photo, File/M. Spencer Green

A site survey of Burr Oak Cemetery conducted to determine whether it would be possible to use an unused part of the historic cemetery for new burials showed that far more bodies were dumped there than originally anticipated.

The survey conducted by Chicago-based Archaeological Research Inc. showed that bodies were buried "immediately below the surface and deeply buried” in the 5.9 acre northeast corner of Burr Oak known as "Crime Scene A." ARI used ground penetrating radar and disking tools over a two-month period to discover that parts of the area were elevated as high as 12 feet above ground level and that bodies and coffin parts were found buried as deep as 8 feet deep.

“Any future excavations into this spoil area for whatever reason will uncover human remains … therefore, it would not be appropriate to use this area for future burials,” the Tribune reports the survey to conclude.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said the survey's results support his contention that Burr Oak should sell no new burial plots. Burr Oak has been shut down since the 2009 discovery of bodies being removed from their burial plots and stacked atop other bodies throughout the cemetery. The plots were then re-sold as part of a plot to split the proceeds between four Burr Oak employees. So many bodies were moved that Dart's office brought in the FBI to help map out the cemetery. The county later sued Burr Oak's management company to recoup overtime costs incurred in the investigation.