SHREVEPORT, La. – A Shreveport family’s grief turned to shock and anger today when a burial at Carver Memorial Cemetery was abruptly halted — after relatives discovered another casket already inside the grave prepared for their loved one.
The family of Frank Ruffin Sr., a beloved pastor and musician, gathered at the cemetery expecting to lay him to rest. Instead, they were met with a disturbing sight: a damaged casket visible inside the open grave.
“When you open a grave, you should never see the casket of another loved one,” said Alexander Elie, owner of Choice Funeral Home, who was handling Ruffin’s burial.
Elie said that when he saw what happened, he and the family agreed to not move forward and instead reload Ruffin’s casket into the hearse and return it to the funeral home.
When KTBS arrived at the cemetery shortly afterward, cemetery owner Arthur Walsh was seen using a backhoe to quickly fill in the grave. He told KTBS that the hole had “caved in,” but declined to speak further on camera…