2 more bodies exhumed from Ind. cemetery

A cemetery exhumed two more bodies from waterlogged graves as state authorities investigate complaints that money paid for crypts, caskets and markers has disappeared from a cemetery trust account.

In all, nine bodies have been dug up there over the past year because of water problems. On Wednesday, relatives watched as while mortician assistants and a cemetery manager opened the graves of the latest, Tokie Lanham and Fred L. Leathermon, to find stainless-steel caskets filled with water.

"The people who did this, I don't know how they sleep at night," said Cecelia Means, Lanham's granddaughter. "It's heart-wrenching."

Relatives said they had been told years ago that the caskets would be lowered into airtight, sealed vaults.

The State Board of Funeral and Cemetery Service asked the Indiana Attorney General's office to examine allegations against Grandview Memorial Gardens, a 40-acre cemetery near Madison, about 40 miles north of Louisville, Ky.

Aside from problems with flooded crypts, the attorney general is investigating what happened to money families paid for burial plots, vaults and grave markers.

The investigation request came shortly after businessman Keith Mefford arranged to buy the cemetery from James Holt, who had owned it since 2001.

Last summer, Mefford's limited liability corporation sued Holt, claiming misuse of money from two Grandview trust accounts and other breaches related to the purchase. Mefford also claims $68,000 in funeral merchandise and services have gone unpaid from the accounts.

Under Indiana law, such accounts must be created for cemetery maintenance and to hold money from people who prepay for graves, vaults and future funeral-related services.

Holt maintained he had nothing to do with the disappearance of the money and blamed poor accounting by previous owners. A message left for Holt Thursday by The Associated Press was not returned.