JEFFERSON TWP. — A family’s continuing frustration with not knowing where their loved one is buried has led to the filing of a lawsuit against the owners of the Jeffersonview Cemetery.
>> I TEAM: Second family weighs in on troubles at local cemetery
And a second family experiencing the same frustration also is considering suing the cemetery’s owners.
Daniel Beebe of Riverside has been riding an emotional rollercoaster trying to find out where his father, Harry Beebe, is buried at the cemetery, 2090 S. Union Road.
“There’s times ... I’ll start crying, and I just, I just, I just want to find peace about my father,” Beebe told News Center 7′s Brandon Lewis on Thursday night.
“You know, it’s like, I just want to know that he’s at peace. So that way, I can be at peace.”
Harry’s daughter-in-law, Jesika Beebe, said cemetery owners have told the family about four different locations in the seven years Harry Beebe has been buried.
This week, the Beebe family met with the Ohio Cemetery Dispute Resolution Commission and agreed to a commission request for the cemetery’s owners to perform a probe next week, using specialized equipment to try and confirm whether the vault holding Harry Beebe’s casket is where it is supposed to be according to cemetery records.
“How do I know that that is him and not these other families’ loved ones?” Jesika asked rhetorically. “We don’t know. And we deserve to know.”
And then there is the Robinson family. They are in the same situation as the Beebe family.
“It’s painful,” Le’Annettay Robinson said.
This reporter spoke with members of the Robinson family in March about their matriarch, Joyce Robinson.
News Center 7 has learned the Robinson family filed a civil lawsuit against the “Jefferson View Cemetery Association, Inc.,” in August, claiming breach of contract, emotional distress, as well as psychological injury and harm from not knowing where or whether their mother is buried.
Former Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin is named in the lawsuit as the cemetery’s representative. This news organization attempted to contact her, without success.
Jesika Beebe said knowing their family is not alone in dealing with questions about the location of their loved ones is difficult.
“We know their pain,” she said, noting that the pain, in part, is fueling her family’s quest for answers.
And that quest, she said. could include a lawsuit.
“I want him to rest in peace,” Jesika Beebe said of her father-in-law. “I want to stop seeing my husband cry at night. I want to stop seeing my baby cry.”