By JANON FISHER
May 11, 2008
A grieving family said they made a horrifying discovery last year when they found a decomposed piece of their son's scalp and the hat he was buried in atop his grave in Cypress Hills Cemetery.
Now the family of Jorge Vera, of Glendale, Queens, after being hounded by burial bills, is suing the cemetery for desecrating the body of their loved one, according to a suit filed last week in Brooklyn Supreme Court.
Vera, 27, died of cancer on Dec. 30, 2006, and was buried in the cemetery four days later, according to the suit.
Several months later, workers punctured the dead man's casket with a corkscrew-type drill used to anchor the headstone in place, according to Michael Barasch, attorney for the family.
When his family went to visit his grave on May 9, his 14-year-old sister, Joanne, saw the hat of Jorge's favorite soccer team - the Barcelona Sporting Club of Ecuador - sitting on top of the grave with a piece of his scalp inside, they claim.
They family was so distraught, they had the body dug up and cremated.
Cypress Hills, which spans parts of Brooklyn and Queens, is still sending them bills for $5,234 for disinterring the body, according to the lawyer.
"The worst part of this is that my son is not resting in peace," said Narcisa Arevalo, 49, Vera's mother.
