How moss helped expose the Burr Oak Cemetery grave robbery scandal
Mar 9th 2026
In 2009 investigators uncovered large scale grave desecration at Chicago’s Burr Oak Cemetery; forensic analysis of moss fragments, alongside bones and other evidence, helped establish when remains were reburied and supported the criminal case against cemetery employees.
- Records showed Burr Oak had capacity for 130,000 graves but listed 140,000 to 147,500 burials and some plots were never used.
- Cemetery officials and employees were charged after investigators found heavy equipment had been used to exhume and resell plots, with estimates of 200 to 400 graves desecrated.
- Investigators recovered about 1,500 bones tied to at least 38 individuals and found Emmett Till’s decaying casket stored behind the cemetery.
- FBI agents also collected fragments of moss buried about eight inches below the surface and asked Field Museum scientist von Konrat to analyze them.
- Because moss can retain metabolic activity and its chlorophyll degrades over time, scientists compared the samples to controls to estimate when the moss had been buried.
- The moss analysis produced a timeline for reburials that strengthened the forensic case and helped prosecutors link the disturbances to cemetery staff.