After three weeks of evidence collection by the Cook County Sheriff's Office investigators at the scandal-plagued Burr Oak cemetery, officials say the number of bones recovered has zoomed fivefold since their last report.
Spokesman Steve Patterson said over 900 bones have now been collected in the two primary crime scenes, and it is believed that number will exceed 1,000 by day's end on Friday.
"It's definitely bolstering the criminal case," said Patterson, who notes that what appears to be a man-made mound in the secondary crime scene has yielded, as he put it, "lots of bones."
That mound, he said, is about 4 to 5 feet higher than the rest of the cemetery.
"Bones at the surface, bones underground... You use a shovel, you get bones. You use a backhoe, you get even more bones," Patterson said. "Even we're being surprised by the volume in crime scene two."
The secondary crime scene, approximately 10 by 20 yards, was established in the south-central portion of the cemetery, shortly after the primary crime scene was mapped out on the property's north end. Forest Preserve workers were brought in this week, to clear brush in that primary area. Patterson said "about a dozen" broken burial vaults were discovered.
"Some had names on them, some had numbers on them," he said. None contained human remains.
T
he Sheriff's police are conducting a parallel investigation at Mt. Glenwood Cemetery, where a human bone was discovered last week. But Patterson said at this stage of the investigation, that cemetery is not shaping up as a Burr Oak type scenario.
"Everything which was suspicious, there are records to back it up," he said. That investigation is continuing.
Patterson said investigators could complete the processing of the Burr Oak crime scene as early as the end of next week.
The cemetery was closed to the public and deemed a crime scene on July 10, after authorities discovered that bodies had been dug up and discarded so the plots could be resold in an off-the-books money-making scheme. Four former employees have been charged.
