PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, Md (7News) — When you first arrive at Forest Hills Memorial Gardens in Clinton, Maryland, it looks like an overgrown but quiet city park. Look more closely, and you’ll find headstones hidden in the tall grass and brush, sunken graves and a cemetery falling into disrepair.
“Let’s take a look at where you think your mom is buried,” asked 7News Investigative Reporter Scott Taylor as he walked into Forest Hills.
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“She would be burying here. Up near the front entrance of that gate,” Nisha Copelin said.
Copelin said her mother, Renee Annette Scott Jackson, is buried at Forest Hills, but she can no longer find her grave.
Years of neglect have allowed weeds, trash, and collapsing ground to swallow up markers and graves.
“I came up here with my other sibling, and the grass was pretty high. We searched the area where she was actually buried over here, and we had no luck. It was pretty distasteful that pretty much all the markers were destroyed or sunken into the ground,” Copelin said.
This problem goes back decades.
In 2000, more than 60 families complained to the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office. The owner was fined for operating without a license amid allegations of unkempt graves and improper burials. A judge ordered the cemetery cleaned up, but it never happened.
“This is not acceptable. We cannot stand and watch our loved ones’ markers be destroyed or broken. There’s trash in this cemetery. It’s pretty bad,” Copelin said.
After months of digging, 7News discovered the cemetery is now officially considered abandoned by the state.
The Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation said the owner forfeited the property years ago after failing to file required tax reports dating back to 1998.
It gets worse. The state and county have no burial maps or records, making it nearly impossible to locate loved ones.
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“They had no records. I was told the previous owner of this property pretty much destroyed records back in the ’90s,” Copelin said.
Only a few states, like Texas, Minnesota and Rhode Island, require that mapped burial records be filed. Maryland does not.
Prince George’s County has stepped in to cut the grass, but has limited legal authority to do more.
There may be hope. Maryland recently created an Abandoned and Neglected Cemeteries Fund to help restore forgotten burial grounds, and Forest Hills appears to qualify.
For families like Copelin’s, action can’t come soon enough.
“I can’t even find her due to the neglect. This is horrible,” Copelin said.
Starting this year, Maryland taxpayers can make a donation on their state income tax forms to help restore abandoned cemeteries. The state wants to set aside $250,000 each year. Right now, it’s still developing the program because it’s so new.
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