CALGARY- Her young daughter was brutally murdered just a few months ago, and Shelly Jones has been visiting her gravesite every few days since the tragedy. It’s the only place she can find peace, in the aftermath of what happened to Lacey Jones-McKnight.
“It’s the one place that me and my family and her friends could come and talk to her, and just be with her,” Jones cries.
Jones-McKnight was killed in October, allegedly at the hands of her ex-fiance, who is now charged with second-degree murder.
But the peace Jones found at her daughters final resting place was shattered a few days ago, when she went to Queen’s Park Cemetery.
“There was a huge mound of dirt probably four feet high in front of my daughters grave, and there wasn’t enough space for me to actually get in front of her headstone,” Jones remembers. “All of the items were thrown aside on other people’s graves.”
She adds that she understands workers need to dig new graves, but says there needs to be a more respectful way of doing it.
“The cemetery is supposed be a sacred place where our loved ones are supposed to rest in peace…I wish they had phoned me prior to, and I could have come and collected all those items.”
In a statement, the head of the City of Calgary cemeteries department said:
“Placing excavated earth on an adjacent lot is a standard operating procedure for internments…Balancing the rights of both family members’ access to those laid to rest and those preparing to lay loved ones to rest is a responsibility we take very seriously.”
A city councillor is siding with Jones, and wants to see a change in procedures.
“I think it’s a matter of empathizing with people’s grief,” says councillor Druh Farrell. “We’re also in the business of providing gravesites, so are we treating the customer as respectful as possible and I think it sounds like we can do a better job in this area.”
Jones is still hurting from what she calls ‘the disrespect.’
“It’s just so painful, so hurtful, so devastating. I mean, these are our loved ones, my daughter was murdered.”
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