Oklahoma City cemetery foreclosure raises many questions

An Oklahoma City cemetery was foreclosed on recently, prompting questions about what will happen to bodies buried there.

Adding to the plight is a possible FBI investigation into mortgage improprieties by the matriarch of the family that owns the cemetery.

Riverside Gardens Cemetery, near NE 36 and Sooner Road, was foreclosed on in May.

Linda Johnson buried her brother there three weeks ago.

"Oh my God — don’t tell me that,” Johnson said of the cemetery’s foreclosure.

She cried, and speaking of her brother, asked: "What do I do with him now?”

The answer is unclear. Numerous attorneys and cemetery owners did not know what could happen to buried bodies at Riverside Gardens if it is sold to a new owner at a court-ordered auction.

The cemetery is one of many recently foreclosed-on properties owned by or connected to Trina Tahir, who last week was identified as the target of an FBI inquiry in foreclosure documents filed by a bank.

Following agency policy, a local FBI spokesman would not confirm or deny the investigation.

Tahir said the foreclosures are a sham.

"We got somebody in cahoots with the bank trying to take our cemetery,” she told The Oklahoman earlier this week.

Niah Spriggs, one of Tahir’s daughters, said someone has been trying to buy the cemetery from the family since it opened and accused that person of working with a bank to orchestrate the foreclosure.

"We’re not losing this cemetery,” she said.

Tahir referred other questions to her attorney, Stephen Jones, who on Wednesday had no comment on the FBI investigation or Tahir’s real estate troubles. On Thursday, Jones withdrew as Tahir’s attorney in the foreclosure case. Again, he had no comment.

Tahir, who filed for bankruptcy last year, and her daughters said they are current with mortgage payments on the cemetery and the other properties foreclosed on in May.

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