Family wants answers in unkempt cemetery full of unnamed graves

MT. HOLLY, N.C.,None — It took Jasmine McCorkle and her family members an hour searching through waist high weeds to find her father's headstone.

It appeared to be uprooted Friday when the family visited.

"It's sad in itself that I don't have my father anymore, but…” Jasmine McCorkle said as she burst into tears.

Her father was buried at Beasley Memorial Gardens in 1994. The cemetery near Mount Holly has not been maintained in years.

Bones have reportedly surfaced at other grave sites.

"This is ridiculous, uncalled for," said Vanessa McCorkle.

They don't want to point fingers. They just want Calvin McCorkle's remains moved.

"It's not what you want to come back to," Jasmine McCorkle said.

But they are not sure his remains are even by the headstone they visit.

Calls to Beasley Memorial Gardens only lead to a dead end. The number is disconnected.

The owner, Odell Beasley, was arrested in 2007 for the condition at the cemetery, but the charges were later dropped.

The Beasley Funeral Home and Beasley Good Samaritan Church own the cemetery, but both are no longer in operation.

The Gaston County's assist manager said in an email that the Beasley family has "so far been able to legally shield themselves from responsibility."

And they have left the McCorkle family wondering what has happened to Calvin McCorkle's remains.

The county has worked for years with no resolution. The county has not responded to questions about what they will do next.

WSOC