Newark’s City Cemetery is the final resting place for 18,000 people – including the poor, unknown or unclaimed – but it looks like an abandoned lot.
A relative mentions that the cemetery has been neglected, and this isn’t the first time this has come up. They requested CBS News Investigator Mahsa Saeidi to find out who is responsible for the site so they can pay respects to those buried there.
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The City Cemetery was wrongly repurposed as an unauthorized dumping ground during the 1990s.
In the late 1990s, Anna Lascurain started looking for her grandfather’s burial site as per her mother Elsie’s wishes. Elsie intended to move her father’s remains from the municipal graveyard to a privately owned one; however, according to Lascurain, they struggled for years just to locate the plot.
“I obtained some tax maps and cross-referenced them with the City Cemetery… When we visited the site, it was devastating,” Lascurain stated. “Everything you could imagine was simply heaped up here… Rubbish.”
Lascurain instructed her mother to initiate legal proceedings. The video footage obtained for this case seems to indicate that the cemetery was being managed like a junkyard, which would be both disrespectful and possibly unlawful.
Under state law, to repurpose a cemetery you must exhume the bodies and bury them elsewhere.
“And none of that was ever done,” Lascurain’s attorney told CBS News New York back in 1998.
The lawsuit alleged the sacred land that held human remains was illegally converted, leased and developed by the City of Newark.
Engineer hired for Newark sewer project testifies skulls were found
CBS News New York obtained video of never-before-seen depositions.
For a brief period from 1949-1958, the Spatola family maintained the cemetery for the city. In depositions conducted in 2000, with Newark’s city attorney present, Agata Spatola O’Connor explained how her family tried to make things right and memorialize the dead.
As I mentioned, this was contributed by my father; he did not bill the city for his work here,” she explained. “My dad simply couldn’t grasp that idea—he insisted that regardless of their financial situation, everyone deserves to be…
When Newark’s city attorney raised an objection based on hearsay, Spatola O’Connor responded with, “But I was present at the event.”
The lawyer raised an objection once more when Spatola O’Connor mentioned that her father suggested the city should undertake some landscaping work.
Consulting engineer Thomas Ferguson testified that in 1966, he had been hired to oversee a sewer project for the city.
“I had no idea there was a cemetery ever there,” Ferguson said in 1999.
As work was underway, something disturbing happened.
“And they were starting to dig … and that’s when, um, well, about two skulls came down,” Ferguson said, “then, they hit … it was rotten wood and stuff, and then, this putrid liquid started coming down also.”
Major flood forced closure of City Cemetery, mayor says
The result of Lascurain’s lawsuit made headlines, forcing Newark city officials to restore the cemetery. Pictures show the pristine transformation years later, but now it’s covered in weeds, surrounded by a chain link fence and locked to public access.
Lascurain could never locate her grandfather’s burial place, yet she continues to advocate for action to be taken.
It’s disgraceful,” Lascurain stated. “Tidy it up and make it appear presentable.
Forensic photographer Karl Petry collaborated with Lascurain on the lawsuit during the 1990s.
“I didn’t come from a rich background, so I understand how tough things can be when you’re short on resources,” he stated. “There’s an unbearable humiliation to it all… It feels as though nobody remembers.”
At first, certain employees at the city informed CBS News New York that they were unaware of Newark having a cemetery; however, they expressed their desire to investigate further for the sake of all affected families.
The city subsequently affirmed that it indeed retains ownership of the 5-acre parcel, with the Department of Public Works overseeing its maintenance.
“We definitely aim to clean it up, we have to clean it up,” stated Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.
Baraka mentions that the cemetery was shut down following a significant flooding event in 2010. This occurred four years prior to his inauguration.
“We have a cleaning schedule in place… However, our DPW personnel will not access the location without receiving approval from us,” he stated.
Baraka mentioned that the worry is that some remains may have been disrupted during the flooding. The following phase involves assessing the location for health and safety concerns, with the mayor’s office stating this evaluation is currently underway.
The mayor’s office also wants backup from the state, so they’ve reached out to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
There is not currently a timeline for the cemetery’s cleanup, but the mayor’s office says plans are in motion.
