Bucks County Cemetery Misplaced Body, Family Alleges

A family is alleging a Bucks County cemetery misplaced the body of their loved one — and it may not be the first time it has happened, according to one report.

The family of Mary Pattishaw, who died last year at the age of 75, tells 6ABC that White Chapel Memorial Park in Feasterville misplaced her body and said they would dig up other graves to find it.

The phone line at White Chapel Memorial Park has been disconnected, and their website as of Friday was not live. When reporters from 6ABC visited the location, on-air footage shows employees calling 911 and the police responding before they were kicked off the property, located at 140 West Street Road.

It began a year ago, when Pattishaw passed away after making her dying wish known — she wanted to be buried alongside her sister in a double grave, the family said in an interview with Reporter Wendy Saltzman.

But the day they arrived for her burial service in February 2015, the cemetery groundskeeper informed them it was too cold to put her casket in the ground. The casket was held in a moselum until the following week, the family said. That’s when they were informed Pattishaw’s grave was placed in the ground.

They thought her dying wish to be laid to rest next to her sister had been carried out.

But they were wrong.

When they came back for a visit to the grave, Pattishaw’s family said in the on-air report that the ground had not been moved at all. When they contacted the cemetery to inquire, they were told the body had in fact been misplaced, according to audio recordings the family took of the phone calls.

“We found the body, I just got to dig it up to make sure it’s the right one,” a cemetery worker allegedly says in the phone call audio, which was obtained by 6ABC.

“I think it’s a great possibility that they’ll be digging up four or five graves before they find the right one,” said Jimmy Nelson, Pattishaw’s son in law.

The family told the network they may need to file a lawsuit to find Pattishaw’ body.

6ABC reports there is a court case already pending against the cemetery. Another family alleges a man’s headstone and casket was placed in a different section than where his memorial service was held.

Click here to watch the full segment on 6ABC.