Family looking for baby's grave after tombstone mixup

HOUSTON – It was insult on top of injury for a Houston family Saturday, nearly four decades after losing their son way too soon.

"For his little life to be treated this way is just unimaginable," said Vanessa Navarrete, referring to her brother.

John David Castellano Jr. died shortly after he was born prematurely in 1979. His mother was in the hospital and couldn't make the funeral.

His father just had a tombstone made, and over the weekend, the family planned to have another ceremony but instead were at a loss.

The Forest Lawn Cemetery placed the tombstone in a different spot from where the family had grieved all these years.

On Monday, the family sat down with Forest Lawn Cemetery operations manager Robert Hilliard for answers. KPRC 2 was invited to take part in the meeting.

"This document showed that your brother was interred in space 125," Hilliard said. "When it was entered into the burial book, it was space 225."

The family said the problem is: The space where 225 should be, where it actually is and where they think Castellano is buried all don't match up.

"I hopefully, with double and triple checking and verifying all the paperwork that's available and the hand records from 1979, will be able to comfort you and tell you exactly where he is," Hilliard said.

We asked Navarrete if she would consider digging up the grave site if the cemetery cannot confirm where her brother is buried.

"By all means, do what you have to do to find my brother," she said.