ST. LANDRY PARISH — An Opelousas mother says she was left heartbroken after discovering her son’s gravesite disturbed during cleanup work at Garden of Memories Cemetery days before Mother’s Day.
Jennifer Smithey says she visited the cemetery on May 3, her son’s birthday, when she noticed multiple headstones displaced and debris scattered across a section near the cemetery’s fence line.
Smithey’s son died in a car crash in 2010. She says she has visited his gravesite regularly for the past 16 years.
“It’s very, very painful,” Smithey said. “Different people’s headstones were everywhere — just thrown on top of debris. My son’s headstone was not where it was supposed to be.”
Smithey says she was never notified that work would be taking place in the area and questioned why families were not contacted before the cleanup began.
“This is not right. No one called me. No one let me know anything,” she said. “I was in shock — and I still am.”
She also says the area no longer resembles the shaded memorial space families once visited.
“It used to be beautiful,” Smithey said. “Every holiday I decorated for him — Christmas, Halloween, everything. Then I came the other day and saw this. Everything was hilly and covered in debris.”
Christopher Ford, one of the cemetery owners, told KATC the area in question was part of a donated burial section intended for families who could not afford cemetery plots. According to Ford, the section along the fence line had become overgrown with hedges and trees, prompting cleanup work.
Ford says headstones were temporarily moved before crews began clearing the area and were later placed back once maintenance was completed. He also says no bodies were disturbed during the process.
Ford added that recent rain contributed to the muddy conditions seen at the site and says the cemetery plans to restore the area once cleanup work is fully complete.
Despite those assurances, Smithey says she believes her son’s gravesite was not properly restored.
“The markers are nowhere near where they originally were,” she said. “I think they’re just making an educated guess.”
With Mother’s Day , Smithey says she simply wants peace for her son.
“I just want him safe. I want him to rest,” she said. “That’s all I want.”
