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Woman feared husband’s Chesterfield grave had been dug up

Posted at 6:41 PM, Apr 19, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-20 07:50:52-04

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. – Barbara Harris went to visit her husband’s gravesite at Mt. Minnis Memorial Park; he’s been buried there for three years.

“When I got here there was fresh dirt, as if it were a freshly dug grave -- I was alarmed,” she said.

“Oh, I was highly upset.”

She couldn’t understand why anyone would put fresh dirt there when there was nothing wrong with the grave.

She recounted that emotions ran high; frustrated that she couldn’t get in touch with anyone from the cemetery to answer her questions. That’s when Harris called Chesterfield Police, who helped her connect with the cemetery owner.

“The first thing that came to my mind -- did he bury someone on top of my husband?”

“Or did he move my husband and put someone in his grave,” Harris said. “I told him I’m not saying you did that, but I have known for it to be done.

Problem Solvers CBS 6 contacted Rev. Antonio Tucker, who oversees the cemetery.

He explained that no one disturbed the grave, but rather, what Harris saw was routine maintenance they perform when graves, over time, start to sink.

That is something other area cemeteries confirm that they do as well.

Tucker said that in addition to the grave of Mr. Harris, they also did the same courtesy maintenance for more than a dozen other sites. He said they hoped to spruce things up for Easter weekend visitors.

Still, Harris explained why this doesn’t sit well with her.

“If you are doing maintenance, what`s wrong then with all these other graves out here that I see that are sunken in? There are quite a few.”

Now that Harris has the answer about why cemetery officials say this happened, she still can`t shake a nagging feeling. A need to know for sure that everything at her husband`s grave is okay.

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