DETROIT – Earlier this week, a family met with Local 4, expressing their concerns about a troubling situation: another family’s headstone had been placed on their loved one’s grave.
Background: Detroit family demands answers after finding stranger’s headstone at loved one’s grave
The family said that their calls and inquiries to the cemetery office had been stalled since January, until our story aired.
Latonya Gouch, the sister of the deceased, Samuel Wells, shared she spent the past year and a half making monthly visits to her brother’s gravesite.
For several days, Local 4 has been investigating the grave situation at Sacred Heart of Saint Mary’s Cemetery in Detroit.
“I want to know where my brother is,” Gouch said when she visited the cemetery on Tuesday. “Just as simple as that. I don’t understand; I need some answers.”
Gouch and her family have been seeking help after discovering that someone else’s headstone had been placed on her brother Samuel Wells’ unmarked grave back in January.
Edward Harris, the father, said, “I couldn’t believe it. It was mind-blowing.”
After making several calls to the cemetery’s listed number, Local 4 visited the Mother of Divine Mercy Parish office to speak with the cemetery’s operations manager.
Marianne Peggie explained that she had been researching the issue and cemetery records, discovering that two neighboring gravesites were involved. She explained that the headstone the family saw was improperly placed too far onto Mr. Wells’ plot.
“Once I heard about it, I decided to make sure it was taken care of immediately, looking into it more on my end of things and making sure the situation was remedied,” Marianne stated.
The operations manager confirmed that workers went to the cemetery this week and moved the headstone to its proper grave.
Peggie mentioned that she, along with a newly hired sexton and a gravedigger, would be meeting at the cemetery on Friday afternoon to survey the sections and launch a review with records.
As for Samuel Wells’ family, they are eager to move forward with ordering his headstone and ensuring it will be properly placed.
