New Cemetery Allegations

State investigators searched land Wednesday bordering a Palm Beach County, Florida, Jewish cemetery where relatives say bodies have been desecrated and lost.

About 20 Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents arrived at Menorah Gardens Cemetery with a sealed warrant and began digging, agency spokeswoman Paige Paterson said. She declined to say what the agents were seeking.

Attorney Neal Hirschfeld, who has filed a class-action suit lawsuit against Menorah Gardens, said former gravediggers have told investigators that body parts were strewn in the area.

"They're definitely looking for human remains," he said.

Hirschfeld said former gravediggers recently told investigators that body parts were strewn in the area being searched. Nearly 1,000 people have joined the suit, filed in December.

The cemetery is accused of jamming corpses together in unmarked graves, removing bodies and otherwise creating space to allow more burial plots to be sold.

Don Mathis, spokesman for Service Corporation International, which owns Menorah Gardens, said the company was cooperating with the search. The firm's Web site identifies SCI as "the world's largest provider of funeral and cemetery services," with operations in 11 countries.