TULSA -- The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office is investigating a report of a missing headstone at Crown Hill Cemetery.
When they showed up at the site, deputies discovered dozens piled up against a trailer.
"Probably like a year and a half ago, two years ago, we noticed that we could never find her. We never thought her tombstone got put up or moved or anything. We just thought we couldn't find her, even though we knew where she was," Destiny Dixon said.
Dixon's great-grandmother was buried at Crown Hill in 2013. When her headstone went missing, Dixon noticed fresh dirt on the plot. She fears as grave markers are moved aside, burials are happening on top of each other.
"It's really sad that you go out there and all you've got is a memory to try to grieve and it ain't even there," Dixon said.
Lucille Figures lived to be 104 after surviving the Tulsa Race Riot. Figures' family said with her tombstone tossed aside, they feel as if her legacy is not being honored.
"Her mother was working for a lady and the lady that she worked for, they hid Mother, which is Lucille, and her mother in their house. So they wouldn't be bothered by everything going on outside and that's how they survived," great-granddaughter Melanie Dixon said.
The cemetery's owner told the Sheriff's Office the previous owner pulled the headstones up for non-payment issues, which the department is investigating. Deputies, families, and 2 Works for You were all referred to the property manager who has not returned any calls.
For the Dixon sisters, this makes the already difficult grieving process even tougher.
"She was the mother of the family. You see how old she was, she was around for a long time, generations and generations. She was a big part of our family," Melanie Dixon said.
Tulsa Representative Monroe Nichols and Sen. Kevin Matthews have joined the investigation. They'll be working with the insurance commission next week.
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