DeKalb County

Wife heartbroken over husband's burial after cemetery refuses to honor purchase

DECATUR, Ga. — More than two years after her husband died, a woman said her husband's remains still aren't buried where they are supposed to be -- and his plot isn't marked.

[READ MORE: Woman can't lay husband to rest in spot she bought decades ago]

Channel 2's Justin Wilfon spoke to Patsy Summerour, who has documents to prove she and her husband paid for spots in a mausoleum at a Decatur cemetery decades ago.

When her husband died in 2017, Summerour said the Washington Memorial Gardens Cemetery would not honor the documents and instead offered the couple plots in the ground.

Now, two years after her husband's death, Summerour said the cemetery has not provided a grave marker on her husband's plot.

"I trusted these people," Summerour said. "I trusted that nobody's going to cheat the dead."

The documents were signed with a previous owner in the 1970s. One document says the couple paid $1,700.

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"That was a lot of money back then," Summerour said. "I just feel like just crying because I'm at a loss for words."

And for all of that money, there's even more heartbreak. Her husband's grave is still without a headstone.

"I have to use points to find him," she said.

Wilfon called cemetery owner Jack Frost.

"Call back in 10 minutes. Ok?" Frost said.

His attorney called Wilfon later and said Frost always does what he can to help his customers, but when Wilfon asked him if the cemetery would install a headstone, he was noncommittal.

Summerour would like to see her husband in the mausoleum where she says he belongs.

"Why would you not honor what I bought?" she asked.

Wilfon went to the mausoleum Thursday and found plenty of empty spots.

Channel 2 consumer adviser Clark Howard suggests going through the Funeral Consumers Alliance to plan ahead without losing money.