Paid services not received by families after cemetery suddenly closes

CANTON, Mich. – A Canton cemetery is at the center of a family feud, and it's those who have lost loved ones that are feeling the impact.

Local 4 was the first to tell you about the sudden shutdown of Knollwood Memorial Park. Tuesday night Local 4 heard from the current owner of the cemetery, and his attorney said he's trying to make things right.

"The whole purpose we chose this place was because it was beautiful and well maintained and everyone dealt with us fairly, and now it's a whole different situation," said Cassandra Collins, who said she is an unsatisfied customer. "We paid the money and we expect a service to be rendered, and now Sam isn't here. Nothing being done. Left several messages. No one has called me back."

She bought a headstone for her husband's grave last October.

"Here it is almost a year later and we still don't have the headstone (or) anything," Collins said. (It) cost us $2,000 -- that's a lot of money. I would just like them to contact me one way or the other and tell me, 'We're going to give you money back or the head stone for your husband's grave.'"

Local 4 learned the cemetery is in a messy legal battle of grandson versus grandfather. The grandfather now has ownership due to a court order, but customers say he's been missing in action.

Local 4 caught up with his attorney, James Roll, to see what the deal was.

"We were unaware there was nobody at the cemetery," Roll said. "The previous owner was to assist us in transferring the cemetery so customers were not affected at all. This didn't happen and I truly apologize for all the people who were affected by that."

Roll said they're trying to right the wrong and that the cemetery now has a working staff.

"We have set up a management team now who is taking care of the transition," he said. "They will receive those (services). All we can do now is with the professional staff we have is to make amends and make sure this doesn't happen again."

And as for Collins and her husband's missing headstone, "What we want to do is find out what the problem is, where the headstone is, and once we locate (it) properly, place it at the burial grounds."

"We have a director who's here overseeing the grounds and burials and making sure the cemetery is running properly," Roll said.