Family says mother’s gravestone at Evergreen Cemetery was missing during Mother’s Day visit
A class action lawsuit has been filed against Evergreen Cemetery in Hillside. Many loved ones have alleged that gravestones were damaged or gone.
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A missing gravestone upended Mother’s Day plans for a woman trying to visit her late mother. It happened at a cemetery that has a history of issues.
A class action lawsuit has been filed against Evergreen Cemetery in Hillside. Many loved ones have alleged that gravestones were damaged or gone.
“It was Mother’s Day weekend, so we wanted to go show my mom some love,” says Wymeerah Jeffress.
Jeffress says that she first thought that someone stole her mother, Rachel Bragg’s, gravestone.
“We couldn’t find my mother, so that’s where the panic came a little bit,” she says.
RELATED: Class-action lawsuit alleges poor management by Hillside cemetery
RELATED: NJ Cemetery Board investigating Hillside cemetery; management denies any wrongdoing
News 12 reported on this cemetery two years ago when families found caskets of loved ones unearthed and open. Others came forward about missing grave markers. The suit makes claims of illegally stacked bodies.
“I need to know if my mamma’s bones are in there, so you need to tell me if her and her bones are gone,” says Jeffress.
Jeffress says she has workers look on Monday and they figured out that the stone didn’t actually get moved, it was just buried under two feet of grass and dirt.
"When he put the shovel in there…I said, ‘Oh he just hit something,’” Jeffress says.
She noticed a new gravestone in the area and thinks that led to her mother's being buried.
News 12 could not reach the management for comment. The state says it currently has no investigation into the cemetery.
