Suburban Chicago cemetery removed headstone without notifying family, new owner acknowledges

A Hillside woman says she was stunned to find her mother's headstone missing from its plot at Oakridge-Glen Oaks Cemetery, an experience she describes as leaving her fearing the worst.

Shavonne Worthy said she visited the cemetery to see her mother's grave and instead found an empty hole, with the headstones on either side still in place.

"I mean, of course my mind went towards the worst-case scenario. Is my mom still here?," Worthy said. "I hope they wouldn't do anything like that."

Worthy said a trip to the cemetery's main office initially yielded no answers, describing the reaction of a staff member she spoke with.

"I said, 'My mom's headstone isn't there,' and the shock on her face — it's like she couldn't believe what I was saying," Worthy said.

She said she was told at first that no one was available to speak with her, but she eventually reached the cemetery's president and new owner, Haciel Cervantes, by phone.

According to Worthy, Cervantes told her the cemetery had removed the headstone to get her attention because the cemetery had no record of it. She said he explained the cemetery believed she had either installed the headstone illegally with an unauthorized second party, or that a cemetery employee had taken a kickback to install it without authorization, and that other families were in the same situation.

"He said that the cemetery was doing — these are his words — 'shady things,'" Worthy said.

Cervantes showed CBS News Chicago paperwork he said indicates the cemetery never received payment for the headstone belonging to Worthy's mother, Geraldine Worthy, which had stood at the grave for nearly 10 years. He said the cemetery has identified a staff member who allegedly outsourced headstone sales for kickbacks, and that some families bring in their own headstones without cemetery approval.

"There is no way for me to look at a headstone and say this headstone was made by the cemetery [or] where this headstone was made by X company. There is no way," Cervantes said. "So in order for us to find out who did the headstone and how the headstone was set, who brought it in, we have to remove the headstone."

Cervantes provided a copy of the cemetery's new rules and regulations, which state that "any unauthorized installation of a memorial will result in immediate removal."

But Worthy showed CBS News Chicago a carbon copy of her original order from nearly a decade ago, which she said does not contain the same contract language now cited by the cemetery. She also said the cemetery never called her to resolve the issue, despite having her contact information.

"My phone number is here, which is the same [number] that has not changed in 10 years," Worthy said, referring to her original order paperwork. "Bill is paid in full here."

Cervantes told CBS News Chicago he does not blame families for actions taken by others.

Geraldine Worthy's headstone has since been returned, undamaged, to its original location. But Shavonne Worthy said she remains troubled by how cemetery staff handled the situation.

"I don't know what logic you could have to do this to a family," she said.

Worthy said she is also concerned that other families may not yet be aware their loved ones' headstones are missing. Cervantes told her the cemetery had identified roughly 15 questionable headstones overall. He told CBS News Chicago that most of those were removed for other reasons, and that he could recall only two families, including Worthy's, whose headstones were removed under similar circumstances. He said the cemetery has tried to contact those families.

Worthy said the situation is especially personal for her, as her grandfather and grandmother are also buried at Oakridge-Glen Oaks Cemetery.