'He Deserves Better': Cemetery Flooding Leaves Daughters Without Proper Burial For Their Father
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Charles Goosby died three years ago. He was cremated, and his remains were supposed to be placed in a mausoleum at Oak Woods Cemetery.
It has not happened, his daughter Bernadine Eley said.
At Oak Woods Cemetery, there are holes filled with water outside and flood damage inside.
"When we got there, there was a flood," Eley said.
The family said they were turned away.
"The cemetery management said, 'We can't do it at this time because of water damage that has infiltrated the crypts," family attorney Nicholas Gowen said.
Goosby had paid $17,000 to Oak Woods years before.
It was Goosby's hope that this would be his final resting place along his wife. When she died in 2002, he bought a tandem crypt.
His three daughters said flood water has badly damaged the mausoleum, which stained carpet and brought mildew mold and gnats.
"They've got a horrible problem with gnats," daughter Cheryl Lyte said. "So you know there's water."
This year, CBS 2 reported flooding has been a persistent problem at Oak Woods.
The cemetery was closed for weeks because of flooding. Family members were unable to visit the graves of loved ones.
Goosby's daughters want their parents' remains placed in another part of the mausoleum that is not damaged by flood water. They said the cemetery told them they'd have to pay an additional $18,000.
"We were angry, upset, actually, insulted," Lyte said.
Goosby's remains are currently in an urn at his daughter Bernadine's home.
"It's very hard," she said. "It's difficult because I think he deserves better. He's siting on a table, and I put his picture next to it. It's hard, but my dad deserves better than this."
The family is preparing to file a complaint in Cook County Circuit Court asking not for damages but for a suitable place in an Oak Woods Cemetery mausoleum for which they don't have to pay extra money.
CBS 2 reached out to the parent company of the cemetery, which said to protect all of clients' privacy, it does not discuss client matters with the media.
