PLAINS TOWNSHIP, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — There is new information on Tuesday in an I-Team investigation that spans two decades. Families who have the remains of loved ones entombed or buried at a Luzerne County cemetery say they're living a nightmare.
They believe their loved ones are not resting in peace because the cemetery and mausoleum are deteriorating.
We are talking about the Good Shepherd Memorial Gardens in Plain Township.
It's gotten so bad that a casket in the mausoleum is now exposed. You can see it from the outside of the mausoleum.
"Even though I kind of expected something like this to happen sooner or later, when you actually see it. It's really horrifying," Ava Petersen, who is researching abandoned cemeteries.
Petersen says she could not believe what she was seeing: Part of a casket inside the crumbling Good Shepherd Memorial Gardens mausoleum in Plains Township.
For the first time since we've been looking into the situation for more than 20 years, a casket can be seen in one of the mausoleums.
This person was laid to rest more than 20 years ago.
The Good Shepherd Memorial Gardens was purchased at tax sale in 2005.
The owners say they did not know they were buying a cemetery.
"We did not purchase the business part of it. We did not intend to continue this place as a cemetery," owner of Good Shepherd Memorial Gardens, Viktoria Evstafieva, told 28/22 News in 2006.
They sued Luzerne County in 2017, claiming they did not know the property was a cemetery. The court ruled in favor of the county, saying they should have known.
The bottom line: They have not maintained the cemetery or the mausoleum.
The mausoleum is crumbling, and it is the target of vandals.
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Plains Township officials condemned the cemetery in 2015, and court records show the owners are in arrears of more than $66,000 in back taxes.
Dozens of families have had to remove the remains of their loved ones at their own expense, costing thousands of dollars.
Bill Tieso volunteers to cut the grass here. Otherwise, he says it would be overgrown.
"Well, first of all, you see that building, most of the bodies are out of there. I'd like to see it fixed or taken down or whatever, and have somebody, it' supposed to be perpetual care. But my mom died in 1991, and I've been cutting it since," Tieso told 28/22 News.
Petersen volunteers to clean up the cemetery as much as she can. She is also researching abandoned cemeteries in Pennsylvania and is writing a book about Good Shepherd Memorial Gardens. She says abandoned cemeteries are not uncommon.
"It's happening a lot more just because there's a lack of oversight. Part of what I want to do is maybe pass new legislation. Obviously, I can't do that, but bring it to somebody who can," Petersen explained.
As we have reported in the past, 28/22 News reached out to the owners of Good Shepherd, who live in Florida. We have not yet heard back from them.
Plains Township and Luzerne County officials say it is out of their hands because it is private property.
