Authorities are beginning the grueling process of trying to identify the people in about 100,000 graves at a suburban Chicago cemetery where four former workers allegedly dug up bodies to resell burial plots.
Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip has been declared a crime scene and closed.
Authorities allege the former workers dug up at least 300 graves and either dumped the bodies in a vacant lot or double-buried them.
The Cook County Sheriff’s Office says it has received more than 7,000 written inquiries about people buried at the cemetery.
The historic black cemetery is also home to the grave of civil rights-era lynching victim Emmett Till. His grave site was not disturbed.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
