Nearly 16 years after a scandal rocked a Chicago-area cemetery, a ceremony hosted by Friends of Burr Oak Cemetery unveiled a new name for the memorial.
In 2009, the cemetery became the site of Cook County's largest crime scene when four employees were accused of digging up gravesites to resell the plots.
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WATCH HERE"It was very hard to see and to work through. And still to this day, it’s difficult," Cook County Sheriff's Commander Jason Moran said. "It was difficult to understand how this could happen."
The investigation uncovered more than 1,500 bones, with the Sheriff's Office determining a minimum of 29 victims. However, investigators believe the true number was likely numbering in the hundreds.
The remains were later reburied at a memorial site within the cemetery in collaboration with the Sheriff's Office and the Friends of Burr Oak Cemetery.
"This is important that the families affected by this tragedy have something that they could look at," Moran told NBC Chicago. "A place to come, or say a prayer, or have a thought and know their loved ones, and them themselves are not forgotten.”
The memorial is called "Circle of Rest," according to co-founder Tammy Gibson.
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"What happened in the past, we don’t want that to happen again, and I think we want to make sure anybody that’s buried here at Burr Oak Cemetery rests with dignity and respect," Gibson said.
The group, joined by Commander Moran, laid flowers at the site and placed 29 rocks beside a plaque donning the new name.
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SIGN UP "It’s important we remember that day, that time and the families and those who have gone on," Friends of Burr Oak Cemetery Chairperson Edward Boone said.
