WEST SENECA, N.Y. — Families with loved ones buried at one West Seneca cemetery are outraged and hurt about a decision to move dozens of caskets and not tell loved ones about it.
Forest Lawn Cemetery owns St. Matthews Cemetery in West Seneca, and 2 On Your Side was told that moving the graves was done because of an emergency.
But families tell us they can't believe this even happened.
At St. Matthews Cemetery in West Seneca, there's shock, hurt and a lot of unanswered questions families have about their loved ones, who have been in the process of being moved to a stable part of the cemetery from an area that is collapsing, as 220 graves are being moved.
It's been going on for more than a week, but families didn't learn about it until now, and many heard through word of mouth.
"It's heartbreaking. If my granny would've came to see her husband on Easter Sunday, my grandmother is in her late 80s, how do you think she would've felt on that day?" Tasha Daniels of Buffalo said.
Her grandfather is here, and she just found out that he will be moved.
"When I called my granny yesterday to notify her, she was hysteric. They did not contact her or anything," Daniels said.
One woman we spoke to didn't want to go on camera. She doesn't know where her mother is.
"It's unexplainable, it's angry, and it's hurtful, it's very hurtful," she said.
Forest Lawn says three weeks ago, it noticed that a strip of land along Cayuga Creek collapsed.
To secure the area, they built a steel wall.
But on Easter morning, they found that the soil was still falling, so they started moving caskets and immediately burying them again.
Before actually doing digging, why not contact the family?
"There isn't time in an emergency circumstance to do that. It's just like if your house is on fire, and the fire department coming in and do what they have to do," said Joseph Dispenza, the president of Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Families here feel otherwise and that contact should've been made immediately.
The cemetery says it started calling families Monday, but by then they had already moved more than 100 graves.
"I too would be upset, but my primary responsibility is the safety of the people who are entrusted to us for perpetual care, and that's exactly what I'm doing," Dispenza said.
That relocation work should be done next week.
Families are already talking about a lawsuit. They are furious about all this, and in many cases they don't know what do.
Forest Lawn says it is contacting families after their loved ones have been relocated and buried.
A hot line has been setup for families impacted if they have any questions. That number is 716-818-4713.
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