A Macon family bought graves beside loved one — but say two strangers were buried there instead

LIZELLA, Ga. — A Macon family is asking how this mistake could happen twice at the same cemetery.

Courtney Joseph said his family paid for two burial plots at Cherry Blossom Memorial Gardens in Lizella, a cemetery owned and managed by Bentley and Sons Funeral Home. Joseph said strangers were buried in both plots years apart, leaving his family without the final resting places they planned for.

Joseph said his brother died in 2011 and that his family purchased two plots next to his brother’s grave to plan for the future.

“In April of 2019, my mother and I came out to put flowers on my brother’s grave, and we discovered that someone was buried in her plot — this plot,” Joseph said.

Joseph said days later he returned to the cemetery and saw the body being exhumed. 

“It’s also caused a lot of emotional trauma for me because I keep those pictures of them digging the person out of the space that she was supposed to be interned in live with me constantly,” Joseph said.

He said the funeral home refunded the money his family paid for that one plot.

Joseph said his mother died in 2021. Because the family no longer owned the refunded plot, they had to bury her in a different cemetery, despite her wishes.

“I am angry and frustrated first of all because my mom took her little Social Security check and she faithfully went up there every month and paid on these plots until they were paid off,” Joseph said. “Her wish was to be buried next to her son. And because someone else was buried in her plot, we wasn’t able to honor her wish.”

Last month, just days before Christmas, Joseph said the family discovered someone else had been buried in the second plot they purchased.

“So now, if we have a bereavement in our family, we have nowhere to put that person,” he said.

According to Joseph, the plots were originally marked, but those markers did not last. He said he wants Bentley and Sons Funeral Home to clearly mark burial plots so the situation does not happen to other families.

“It’s been emotionally exhausting. We’ve been dealing with this for over 10 years now, and all of this could have been avoided if they had placed the markers on the spots that my family purchased,” Joseph said.

Joseph also encouraged others with prepaid plots at Cherry Blossom Memorial Gardens to check on them.

“It’s been a frustrating experience and I would encourage anyone that has prepaid cemetery plots out here Cherry Blossom Gardens to come out here and check on your plots,” Joseph said.

We attempted to contact Bentley and Sons Funeral Home for comment over three days, making phone calls and sending emails. We did not receive a response.

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