A family visiting a Prince George's County cemetery on Father's Day made a disturbing discovery -- a casket had apparently drifted in flood waters from a grave site to the bank of a nearby creek.
A man who has dozens of family members buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery in Suitland, Maryland spotted the casket on Sunday and photographed it.
"I have my mom here, my dad here, my sister here. I have over 100 relatives here and this is just crazy," Billie Jo Miles said. Her brother Richard saw the casket that washed out of a grave site about 50 feet from where their father is buried.
Broken headstones with at least four family names littered the ground near the creek on Monday.
Shown photographs of those gravestones, one woman said she was horrified.
"I feel hurt. They should take care of graves better than that," she said.
Cedar Hill Cemetery management refused an interview with News4 and said only one grave site had been disturbed.
The Maryland Office of Cemetery Oversight inspected the property on Monday and said heavy rain Saturday night caused flooding that buckled a retaining wall. That wall is scheduled to be repaired Tuesday.
U.S. & World
"Should affected families wish for their loved ones to remain at their original burial site or be moved to another location, it will be done at no cost to the families," the office said in a statement.
Since 2012, 19 complaints have been made against Cedar Hill Cemetery, the OCO said. Eleven of the complaints were related to maintenance. Here's the data the state gave News4:
Complaints and inquires for Cedar Hill Cemetery 2012 and 2015:
2015- 3 Total (2 Complaints- Maintenance Issues and 1 Inquiry-Memorial Installation (01-01-2015 to Present)-All Closed
2014- 7 Total (3 Complaints-Maintenance Issues and 4 Inquires-Contract Terms and Issues and Sales Practices) All Closed
2013- 7 Total (4 Complaints-Performance and Maintenance Issues and 3 Inquires-Sales Practices and Performance) All Closed
2012-2 Total (2 Complaints-Maintenance and Performance Issues) All Closed
