Cemetery moves woman's remains without notifying family

LAKE WALES (FOX 13) - Cemeteries are known as a final resting place and that’s what one Lake Wales family thought.

But the Gonzalez family is up in arms about what happened to their loved one.

They say the city-owned cemetery moved her grave without out telling them.

Family members say it was a terrible shock; one that no one should ever have to experience.

The family came to visit their loved one, but she was gone.

Peggy Jean Hall was the glue that held the family together. Her daughter, Della Gonzalez felt especially close to her. When she came to visit her mom’s grave recently, she was devastated.

“I was hysterical,” Della Gonzalez said. “I feel like we were violated. I felt like they disturbed our mother’s final resting place.”

Her mom’s grave had been moved and no one was able to be there when it happened.

The city says when they buried Hall seven years ago, they put her in the wrong place.

Gonzalez recently was able to afford her mom’s headstone. The company installing the headstone discovered the mistake and notified the city.

The city told the company to move Hall to the proper plot and install the head stone there.

“We’re not in the business of hurting families. We’re not in the business of bringing grief to a family,” said city of Lake Wales representative Zailet Suri.

Suri insists she called Gonzalez and left a message that before the move.

“I have backups on my voice mail. They go to two different places. There is no way I would have missed a voicemail,” Gonzalez told FOX 13.

“We left a message. The only thing I could have done is physically gone to her last known address,” Suri said.

When asked why a registered letter was not sent to that address, Suri said, “We could, yes. That’s a good idea. I’ll note that down. That’s an extra step that I could take I don’t mind doing [that].”

Gonzalez says it’s too late for her family but hopefully, this is the last grave mistake that will ever be made at Lake Wales Cemetery.

“I just felt like they had done us wrong,” Gonzalez said.