Grieving family says cemetery can't tell them where Detroit man is buried

Patrick Sullivan died almost a year ago, and while most families would be using the last 11 months to grieve the loss of their loved one, Patrick's family hasn't been able to.

They can't find his body.

“I couldn’t believe it. I said you’ve got to be joking," says Michelle Sullivan, Patrick's sister. "If you don’t know today where he’s at, you’re not going to know tomorrow until you dig him up.”

Chanell Calloway is Patrick Sullivan's niece. She says the family bought a plot at Sacred Heart Cemetery on the east side of Detroit to lay her uncle to rest before he passed away of cancer.

At first, the manager of the cemetery told the family Patrick's body was against the fence as they drove in, so they made a wreath to commemorate him until the headstone was finished.

But when the tombstone company came to deliver and place the headstone, the manager of the cemetery told the company to leave it outside the gate because he would place it himself.

Chanell says the headstone sat outside the fence for over a month, and when it was placed, the manager of the cemetery placed it backward.

“My uncle is not resting and it’s not right," she says. "So as far as now going forward something has to be done about this situation.”

Chanell tells us the manager admitted to the headstone company he didn't know where the body of Patrick Sullivan was buried, and that is why he was going to place the stone himself.

The tombstone company called the family and told them what they had learned, and the family reached out to the cemetery manager for answers. He admitted it to the family.

“We heard him actually say it twice in the same day,” Chanell says.

I asked the manager of the cemetery if he had a map to the cemetery plots I could look at to help the family find Patrick's body, but he told me somebody broke in and ripped up the map.

“How disrespectful," Chanell says. "It’s very disrespectful.”

After I spoke to the cemetery manager, I decided to stop by the Parish to see if they had any information to help the family. The parish manager told me she had no idea the family was unable to find their loved one. She was upset and apologetic and immediately went to the cemetery to start efforts to find Patrick's body.

The Diocese of Detroit says in a statement about the situation:

Sweetest Heart of Mary Parish and the Archdiocese of Detroit are fully engaged in resolving this matter with care and urgency. We understand the pain and difficulty this situation has caused for the family and loved ones of the deceased, and our prayers go out to them. Please be assured of our firm commitment to addressing and resolving this issue in a respectful and compassionate manner.

The manager of the Parish later reached out to inform me she had made contact with the family and is working diligently to find Patrick's burial site. She also says the parish is in the process of replacing the manager of the cemetery.

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