Butler County families say loved ones were buried in wrong cemetery plots

“It was a complete disaster,” Leonard said. “Mom and dad had come down here and purchased their plots 10 years before dad’s passing. So when we came up here, everything was set for dad to be buried at the bottom of the hill, but the day of the funeral, when we got over here, he was buried at the top of the hill.”

Leonard said he made arrangements for his mother to be buried next to his father at Butler County Memorial Park late last year. Instead, she was placed in the wrong plot, a mistake Leonard said forced his family to relive grief during an already painful time.

“We ended up having to put mom in a temporary vault at the top of the hill, and she had to sit there for five days before we could actually put her in the ground,” Leonard said.

Leonard and his brother, Tracy Fugate, said both parents were moved around multiple times at the cemetery.

“I don’t want any other family to have to go through this. I mean, we had to go through it twice,” Tracy said.

Leonard said the situation was “chaotic” and “disrespectful.”

“The day of mom’s funeral, they had her buried. They had the hole dug completely on the other side of the cemetery, and they said they didn’t have any paperwork whatsoever on mom and dad’s grave. But they’re the ones who placed dad here,” Leonard said.

Leonard said he offered to show the cemetery managers where the plot should be before the funeral, yet his mother still ended up in the wrong spot.

The Fugate family’s experience mirrors a similar situation from 2023 involving Lily Arisah, whose mother was also scheduled to be buried at Butler County Memorial Park. Arisah said her family couldn’t bury her mother in the intended location because someone else had been placed in plots that weren’t supposed to be occupied.

Everstory Partners, based in Florida, took over ownership of the cemetery years ago. In 2023, a spokesperson said Arisah’s family’s plots were sold by previous owners.

WCPO emailed, called and left a voicemail for Everstory Partners on Friday for their response.

Leonard said the incident left him with a painful decision about his own final resting place.

“I’ll never be laid next to my mother or father for the simple fact I cannot stand this cemetery and the disrespect they show to people who purchase plots here,” he told us.