Cemetery mixup leaves 87-year-old without gravesite

HITCHCOCK, Texas – Michael Lamb and his sister Connie Carter are furious and demanding answers after a cemetery mixup left their mother without a burial plot.

The family told Channel 2 they purchased two cemetery plots more than 30 years ago in the Mainland Memorial Cemetery in Hitchcock because their mom, Marguerite Lamb, wanted to be buried next to her husband and near other family members.

Last week, after Marguerite Lamb's funeral, family members said they were notified about a problem.

When workers went to dig the grave, they discovered someone else was already buried in Marguerite's plot.

"Right now, I'm ticked and my family is ticked about what happened here and what has occurred here," said Michael Lamb.

"She lived a good, long life," said Connie Carter. "She deserved to have a nice burial."

The casket that was mistakenly buried in Marguerite's plot has since been exhumed. It's unclear how long it's been there or who is inside. The property owner, Russell LaRoe, told Channel 2 he will determine who it is but he won't say how he plans to do that.

"There's a lot of questions I want answered, too," LaRoe said.

LaRoe told KPRC2 he bought the cemetery six years ago and this mixup happened before then.

"This cemetery is 100 years ol;, they didn't have computers and accurate records back then," he said.

But that's not good enough for the Lamb family.

"He shouldn't have purchased it if he did not get those records," Carter exclaimed. "How do you sell plots if you don't know who's here?"

"That's bad business on his part," said Michael Lamb.

Meanwhile, Marguerite Lamb still hasn't been buried.

Her family said the 87-year-old's body remains at the funeral home until they can make sense of what is happening at the cemetery.

"It's a big mess."

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