CHICAGO -- Workers at Burr Cemetery are accused of digging up as many as 300 graves, discarding the bodies, and in some cases reselling burial plots.
Former cemetery manager Carolyn Towns, 49, foreman Keith Nicks, 45, and dump-truck operator Terrence Nicks, 39, all of Chicago, and back-hoe operator Maurice Dailey, 59, of Robbins, were each charged with one count of dismembering a human body, a Class X felony.
Bail for Towns, who was described as the scheme's mastermind, was set at $250,000, and for the other defendants at $200,000 by Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil.
An arrest warrant was also issued Tuesday for a fifth person, a 45-year-old woman who was a secretary at the cemetery, according to Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Brittney Blair.
But the woman was not charged after investigators became convinced that she did not profit from the scheme and was only carrying out orders from Towns, who was the office manager.
"Carolyn Towns was the brains behind the operation, the one calling the shots," Blair said.
The defendants were able to successfully carry out the scheme, prosecutors said, because bereaved relatives often came into the cemetery office to buy grave sites with cash.
Towns would take the cash and destroy the deeds and other paperwork for the existing graves, they said.
Towns would keep the cash and pay off the other defendants by increasing their overtime pay, which she controlled as cemetery general manager.
Mahoney described the defendants's actions as "cold, calculating and showed a total disregard for human souls."
Detectives discovered a pile of bones decomposed, above ground and uncovered in an overgrown, fenced-off portion of the cemetery, according to Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart.
In addition, bodies apparently were double-buried in already existing plots, Dart told WGN-AM 720 this morning. Dozens of FBI agents are expected in Chicago early next week to help sift through the evidence at the cemetery, Dart said.
The charges against Towns allege that "numerous graves were excavated and the human remains were then buried in a rear vacant lot in Burr Oak cemetery, Alsip ... She then sold the vacant gravesites for her own personal financial gain."
Authorities said she earlier had been fired by the cemetery's owners because of theft allegations.
One of the first predominantly African-American cemeteries in the area, Burr Oak is the resting place of many historic figures, including civil rights symbol Emmett Till, blues legend Dinah Washington and heavyweight boxing champion Ezzard Charles.
Dart said he was certain Till's remains were not disturbed, but he could not be sure about the others.
This morning, a large crowd converged on the cemetery, most of them African-American, saying they wanted to find out if their loved ones' remains had been moved. The families expressed outrage, disgust and discouragement.
Dart said this morning that none of the cemetery's workers came to work today, so the sheriff's office was aiding residents walk through the plots.
"This is just heartbreaking. The people I have talked to have made me want to cry," Dart said. "The sense of violation is horrible."
"Some people come back from the grave site and it's not what it's supposed to be and I don't know what to tell them," he said.
Former cemetery manager Carolyn Towns, 49, foreman Keith Nicks, 45, and dump-truck operator Terrence Nicks, 39, all of Chicago, and back-hoe operator Maurice Dailey, 59, of Robbins, were each charged with one count of dismembering a human body, a Class X felony.
Bail for Towns, who was described as the scheme's mastermind, was set at $250,000, and for the other defendants at $200,000 by Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil.
An arrest warrant was also issued Tuesday for a fifth person, a 45-year-old woman who was a secretary at the cemetery, according to Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Brittney Blair.
But the woman was not charged after investigators became convinced that she did not profit from the scheme and was only carrying out orders from Towns, who was the office manager.
"Carolyn Towns was the brains behind the operation, the one calling the shots," Blair said.
The defendants were able to successfully carry out the scheme, prosecutors said, because bereaved relatives often came into the cemetery office to buy grave sites with cash.
Towns would take the cash and destroy the deeds and other paperwork for the existing graves, they said.
Towns would keep the cash and pay off the other defendants by increasing their overtime pay, which she controlled as cemetery general manager.
Mahoney described the defendants's actions as "cold, calculating and showed a total disregard for human souls."
Detectives discovered a pile of bones decomposed, above ground and uncovered in an overgrown, fenced-off portion of the cemetery, according to Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart.
In addition, bodies apparently were double-buried in already existing plots, Dart told WGN-AM 720 this morning. Dozens of FBI agents are expected in Chicago early next week to help sift through the evidence at the cemetery, Dart said.
The charges against Towns allege that "numerous graves were excavated and the human remains were then buried in a rear vacant lot in Burr Oak cemetery, Alsip ... She then sold the vacant gravesites for her own personal financial gain."
Authorities said she earlier had been fired by the cemetery's owners because of theft allegations.
One of the first predominantly African-American cemeteries in the area, Burr Oak is the resting place of many historic figures, including civil rights symbol Emmett Till, blues legend Dinah Washington and heavyweight boxing champion Ezzard Charles.
Dart said he was certain Till's remains were not disturbed, but he could not be sure about the others.
This morning, a large crowd converged on the cemetery, most of them African-American, saying they wanted to find out if their loved ones' remains had been moved. The families expressed outrage, disgust and discouragement.
Dart said this morning that none of the cemetery's workers came to work today, so the sheriff's office was aiding residents walk through the plots.
"This is just heartbreaking. The people I have talked to have made me want to cry," Dart said. "The sense of violation is horrible."
"Some people come back from the grave site and it's not what it's supposed to be and I don't know what to tell them," he said.
