CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — The tombstone for the parents of Keith McCabe had been at Roosevelt Memorial Park Cemetery for 30 years.
But on Memorial Day weekend when McCabe went looking for their headstone on what he views as sacred ground, it was gone.
It left him shocked.
“I went to their grave site and could not find it,” McCabe said. “I could not find it at all, and I have been there many times before, but I did not find it.”
McCabe came out after the Memorial Day weekend and met with a worker at the cemetery.
“We both went out there, and he verified that it was not there,” McCabe said. “He called back in on his cell phone to the office, talked to his supervisor, and said that it was not there.”
And that left him frustrated.
“And they were supposed to give me a call back,” McCabe said. “And that was on Monday, and I haven’t heard anything from Roosevelt since then.”
Then McCabe recalled the story about the missing gravemarker of Todd Belton’s mother at the same cemetery. He emotionally told us then,
“That was my mama,” Belton told 10 On Your Side at the time. “That’s all I had. I’m an only child.”
Said McCabe: “To be honest, that was the first thing that hit me, my alarm there, and I told my wife Andy just did a story on that [a missing headstone], and it’s the same place … and my wife and I went to WAVY-TV and watched the whole video.”
Cemetery General Manager Samantha Pritchard once again asked 10 On Your Side’s reporter to leave after being told McCabe felt disrespected by the cemetery, and that nothing had been done to find the gravemarker.
10 On Your Side also contacted Everstory Partners, which operates 376 cemeteries, 81 funeral homes and 12 crematories, at its corporate headquarters in Altamonte Springs, Florida, but it has not returned phone calls or emails seeking comment, noting several issues at the Roosevelt cemetery based on the number of complaints that have come in about it.
Pritchard, though, did offer to help and was agreeable to help solve the issues raised.
“I will be glad to work with corporate, and what is going on with Mr. McCabe’s marker and we will get it cleared up,” she said. “We will get together with the McCabe family and figure this out.”
Pritchard, off camera, told 10 On Your Side that if there were any further issues, to call her, and she would work to take care of them.
Pritchard was not in when McCabe called, but the person who spoke with McCabe was helpful, he said.
“It was positive,” McCabe said. “I hope the ice has been broken to get some answers. We want answers on where the gravemarker is and how it got there.”