44 families say they have not received headstones for their loved ones from Gast Monuments

CHICAGO (CBS) -- We told you Thursday night about Gast Monuments – a company that creates memorial headstones – and one family's frustrations over not receiving the memorial for which they paid.

Since then, several other families have reached out to us, saying their headstones were never delivered either – despite paying in full.

As CBS 2's Sabrina Franza reported, since we aired our first story on Gast Monuments, we have learned that at least 44 families are in the same boat. They have been left unable to finish their grieving process because the headstone for their loved one is not at the cemetery where it is supposed to be.

"They showed me a picture of the stone. They have the stone. Everything looked right. We were all paid up," said Lisa Aschermann. "It should be there, winter '22 - which is what the contract said."

Lisa and David Ascerhmann lost their son, Daniel, during the height of the pandemic. 

"Daniel's smile look up a room, and that's what most people say. They're like, 'Oh my God, that smile of Daniel's,'" said Lisa Aschermann. "He just lit up a room with his smile."

Daniel's death was a surprise, and so was the heartache they received from Gast Monuments.

At the time of Daniel's death, the Aschermanns weren't allowed to give him a full service because of COVID-related restrictions.

"Even his funeral, we were only allowed to have I think 10 people show up at the funeral home," said David Ascerhamnn.

Two years later, after they had been promised his headstone would be finished, they returned to his grave to celebrate his life on what would have been his 31st birthday – only to find nothing but grass.

Now, the family wants answers.

"I mean, talk about grave robbers, you know?" said Lisa Aschermann. "They're stealing from people at their most vulnerable time - which I think is just horrible."

We spoke Thursday with Gast Monuments general manager Katie Gast. We met with her again on Friday.

She told us Friday the company has been reaching out to every single one of the 44 families missing their monuments – with a status update and an explanation.

"We spent the entire day calling every family that's in this situation - and if we haven't gotten to them at this hour, they're still on our list of people to call either today or tomorrow, and let them know, and they'll all be receiving a letter with an update tonight," Gast said.

Gast said all monuments going to Catholic cemeteries need to go through the Archdiocese of Chicago. She claims the company submitted memorials for 48 families and all were approved by the Archdiocese – but because the first four haven't been finished yet, the Archdiocese will not let them install the others.

"There's memorials that are not ready, because they're of a larger caliber," Gast said. "Those families are being prioritized over the families whose memorials are ready."

Late Friday, the Archdiocese released the following statement:

"In our century and half of operation, the Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic Cemeteries ministry has placed the needs of grieving families first. We continue to be guided by this principle.

"Cemeteries has not changed its policies or procedures for receiving and placing monuments.

"We have worked with many monument companies last year without complaint or incident, completing nearly 8,000 marker and memorial placements. Other than a new pricing structure that applied to all monument companies, nothing has changed.

"In the case of a company with a history of not meeting its financial or delivery obligations to the families involved or to Cemeteries, we may require more assurances that these obligations will be met.

"We are working with families affected by late deliveries or other issues to help find and place the monuments for which they have paid."

The Archdiocese also sent a letter provided to families last month explaining monument placement procedures.