‘Complete shock’: Mother grieves again after cemetery reburies daughter

DONIPHAN, Mo. (KAIT/Gray News) - A Missouri mother says she is grieving again after finding out her daughter’s final resting place was in the wrong spot for nearly two decades.

For nearly 20 years, Tonya St. Cin has frequented a special spot at Hunt-White Memorial Gardens in Doniphan to visit Elisha Schmidt, the daughter she lost in 2005, KAIT reports.

“I miss her laugh. I miss her smile. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think of her when I wake up,” St. Cin said.

When the mother visits her daughter’s grave, she says she thinks of what could have been.

“I’ll never see her get married. I’ll never see her have children,” she said.

St. Cin lost her brother in February. He was supposed to be buried next to Elisha. When St. Cin saw his plot wasn’t there, she found out her daughter had been buried in the wrong spot for 20 years, bringing all that pain back.

“I was in complete shock. I was mourning my brother. He’s my last brother,” she said. “It was like PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] all over again.”

A Doniphan city leader confirmed Elisha was buried three feet from where she was supposed to be. They said there was a mistake made when the plot was marked, and they realized the mistake when St. Cin’s brother’s plot was marked.

For St. Cin, moving her daughter meant reopening wounds she thought were closed long ago.

“You’re telling me I have to rebury my child after this has been my place to go for comfort. To other people, it may just be four feet, but to me, that four feet means a lot,” she said.

The city said St. Cin agreed to move her daughter verbally, but St. Cin said she was never told her daughter would be moved. For her, that spot was sacred.

“I anointed that ground many times. I’ve come up and thrown a blanket and had lunch with my daughter,” she said. “I thought she would be there until Momma got next to her.”

Now, Elisha is finally in her new resting place. St. Cin said she wanted to speak out, so another family didn’t have to rebury their loved one.

The city says it’s paying for all the expenses for the family. City leaders add they are not aware of any other plots that might be mislocated.