It is a story that will shake you to your core.
A funeral company is accused of digging up bodies and relocating them without the family’s permission.
“Now it’s kind of rearing its head here in the Rio Grande Valley because we’re just finding that it’s not just one case but a number of cases,” said attorney Richard Roth.
Roth said there are 20 other families that are going through this ordeal in the Valley and one of those is the family of Rodolfo Garza.
Garza’s family alleges that Highland Memorial Cemetery in Weslaco moved Rodolfo’s remains without notifying them.
Roth said the family became aware that Garza was not in the plot he was buried in after his brother-in-law went to place an American flag on his gravestone for Memorial Day back in 2003.
“Apparently Mr. Garza was wrongfully buried in the space they owned," Roth said. "In order to do it they threw Mr. Garza’s headstone in the back of the barn so the Rodger’s wouldn’t see it."
When Garza’s brother-in-law went back to the office to ask what the headstone was doing in the back of a barn.
Roth said he was told, “His brother-in-law would have to be moved, he could not stay, and they couldn’t place it back.”
Roth also said records showed that Rodolfo was buried in plot 4 but it looked like someone changed that number to a 5.
The Garza family, still unsure where Rodolfo was buried, decided to remove his remains and rebury them at another cemetery.
Action 4 News spoke to Lisa Marshal with Service Corporation International and she said they could not comment on the case because it was already at trial.
She does say that Mr. Garza’s body was still where it was originally buried until the family got a court order to remove it.
Both sides started presenting evidence on Tuesday and the trial is expected to last about a week.
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