Chicago-area cemetery where graves dug up reopens

[November 20, 2009]  ALSIP (AP) -- A Chicago-area cemetery that was shut down after four former workers were accused of digging up graves in a scheme to resell burial plots is open again.

Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip reopened Thursday morning. People boarded a bus across the street and were then driven into the cemetery to visit the graves of loved ones.

The historic black cemetery had been closed for nearly four months after authorities arrested the four workers and began searching the grounds. They found more than 1,100 human bones, some strewn among overgrown weeds.

Authorities say they discovered evidence that plots were resold and some caskets were stacked on top of each other in the ground.

All four workers have pleaded not guilty.

[Associated Press]

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