Lawsuit over alleged lost bodies at cemetery goes to federal court

CHARLOTTE — Multiple families are suing a southwest Charlotte cemetery because they claim they can’t find where loved ones were buried.

PAST COVERAGE: Families sue after cemetery loses track of loved one’s bodies

The lawsuit that started in the Mecklenburg County courts is now in federal court.

Several local families accused York Memorial Park on South Tryon Street of misplacing the bodies of their loved ones.

Some of the families held a news conference Thursday afternoon at the cemetery.

Family members said they can’t find their loved ones who were buried there years ago.

Lavonne Haynes’ father was a World War II veteran. He was laid to rest in 1965 at York Memorial Park. However, Haynes said she doesn’t know where his body is, and the cemetery has not been able to find it.

“I just want to put flowers on my family like everybody else does,” Haynes said. “I just want to be like normal people -- hard enough to lose all your family. I’m an only child. Daddy’s baby. I have nobody to speak for them but me, and I’m not through talking yet.”

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At least 10 families are now suing the company. Their attorneys hope to make it a class-action lawsuit.

We reached out to the attorney for York Memorial Park, and they had no comment about the press conference.