San Diego father’s remains missing from burial plot at local cemetery

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A San Diego family is suing a local mortuary after it lost their father’s remains.

Thelma and Sidney Cooper met on a blind date, started a family, and together created one of the largest Juneteenth celebrations in the city of San Diego.

Sidney Cooper died in 2001, his service was at Greenwood Memorial Park and Mortuary on Imperial Avenue, at a plot he and his wife purchased together in the early 1990s. The family says they didn’t stay to watch their father’s casket be lowered into the plot.

When Thelma Cooper died in March 2023, their children, including daughters Lana and Shelley, were getting ready for her viewing when the mortuary called.

“When we were preparing the gravesite for your mom, your father’s not there,” says Lana, Cooper’s daughter, about the phone call.

Three months later, the family doesn’t have answers about what happened. The siblings say the mortuary’s story has changed several times, including a possible location of where their father might be buried. The family requested a DNA test, which they say hasn’t happened.

“We want to request a DNA; we don’t want them to just put any casket on top of my mother, we want to make sure it’s our father,” says Lana.

The family has now filed a lawsuit to find the father’s remains and compensate the family for damages.

A spokesperson for Greenwood Memorial Park and Mortuary sent ABC 10News the following statement:

“Greenwood Memorial Park and Mortuary has proudly and dutifully served families and the San Diego Community with care for over 300 years. While the placement of this family’s loved one occurred over 20 years ago under previous ownership and management, we recently discovered an issue with placement and are diligently working to confirm the placement of the loved one. Our hope is to reunite the loved ones as intended as soon as possible.”

The family decided to move forward with their mother’s burial in March, in the couple’s plot.

“My mother is there alone and if my mother knew my father was not there before she died, I think she would have been cremated because that’s the only reason she wanted to be buried, is to be with her husband, and now she’s not,” says Lana.

The Cooper siblings say nothing would mean more to them than reuniting their parents, as they dreamed of, on Imperial Avenue, together.