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More families voice concerns about Detroit cemetery as police investigate misplaced remains

Families unable to locate loved ones at Gethsemane Cemetery

DETROIT – More families are coming forward, demanding answers about the location of their loved ones buried at the Gethsemane Cemetery.

The City of Detroit owns the cemetery, which is located on Gratiot Avenue near Conner Street. The city has used management companies to handle the day-to-day operations.

READ: Detroit family wants answers after 4 bodies found in man’s gravesite

A Detroit family is demanding answers after four bodies were found in a loved one’s gravesite, none of them was their loved one. Now, there are other families with questions. They want to know where their loved ones were buried.

“I kind of just gave up. It’s like, ‘Who do you call? What do you do?’ So, until I saw the story, I didn’t have no kind of hope,” Delores Syakovich said.

Syakovich can’t located her grandmother’s body. She called Local 4 after watching our story about a body missing from the cemetery. Last summer was her first time visiting the cemetery in decades. She said when she went to visit her grandmother’s grave, workers didn’t know where the plot was.

“That’s the first thing she said, ‘Well, we just took over this place. We haven’t owned this place for too long.’ And she said, ‘I’ve been having a lot of problems with different people and trying to find out where people are.’” Syakovich said.

Last week, a Detroit family said when they tried to exhume their nephew’s body, they found four other bodies in his grave. His body was missing.

The city said that during the excavation, neighboring vaults were exposed, but bodies were not found stacked on top of each other.

Syakovich’s grandmother, Mirtis Lee Gloster, was buried at Gethsemane Cemetery in 1987.

“It feels like they don’t care,” Syakovich said.

She said she wants the cemetery records to be thoroughly examined so she can find her grandmother.

Detroit police are now investigating and will review cemetery records.

READ: Second family seeks answers on remains of loved one at Detroit cemetery


About the Authors
Priya Mann headshot

Priya joined WDIV-Local 4 in 2013 as a reporter and fill-in anchor. Education: B.A. in Communications/Post Grad in Advanced Journalism

Kayla Clarke headshot

Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. Before she joined the team in 2018 she worked at WILX in Lansing as a digital producer.

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