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BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - It is supposed to be a place of peace, where those who’ve gone on can rest but as Anita Taylor walks through Gilbert Cemetery just off Greenwell Springs Road, she is consumed by stress and worry. She has not visited the site in years but is now in a fight with the state over property that she says belongs to her family.

During a recent visit to the cemetery, Taylor showed where her one of her family members is buried and tells the WAFB I-TEAM her father should be buried next to them. The family ended up burying her father in a different cemetery after the plot he paid for vanished. Her aunt will be 93 years old in March and also has a plot at the same cemetery but now Taylor is afraid they will have to look somewhere else for her as well.

WAFB’s Scottie Hunter asked Taylor if the family has thought about what happens if the issue is not settled by the time they need the space.

”I haven’t thought that far,” said Taylor. “I’m certain that as a family we would be able to do what we need to do one way or another; however, I do believe that the wrong needs to be righted.”

Back in in 2011, Gilbert Cemetery was in bad shape and plagued with problems. From bad records to people being buried on top of one another, investigators at the time said the place was being mismanaged. That’s when the state stepped in, placing the cemetery into receivership. It’s a process where the state takes the property from the original owner and brings in a different group-- in this case a non-profit-- to run the place until things can be straightened out.

Years before the cemetery fell on rough times, Taylor’s father bought two plots for $700 and her aunt bought another one, making it three plots in the cemetery that her family has spoken for as they made end-of-life plans. Because of the apparent mismanagement by the original owner, Taylor is now being told the state has no record that the plots belong to her family-- despite her proof.

”I don’t understand,” said Taylor. “If I’m having difficulty with a private entity and the government steps in, why are they not doing anything? They stopped the transgressions from continuing but that does nothing for the people who have already purchased and who have already invested and expect that this part of their life planning is taken care of.”

Dr. Ryan Seidemann works for the Attorney General’s Office and oversees the process. He explains while the state does step in, they handle the legal process only instead of the day to day, and because they do not have records of purchase, their hands are essentially tied.

“It’s awful for them. I mean, it’s beyond my comprehension awful,” said Seidemann. “The reality of what we learned in 2012 when we took over the cemetery for receivership was what we had suspected that the folks operating it for about 15 years prior were not keeping proper records and so for those kinds of sales that were done pre-need, there are almost no records that they were done, even if a person has a receipt for it.”

WAFB’s Scottie Hunter asked Seideman if there is something else the state can do to remedy the situation.

“There isn’t anything the state can do to remedy it,” said Seidemann. “The law pretty much restricts us as state folks from taking over the cemetery or operating it and the law doesn’t provide for like a municipality to take it over or something. Other states have that but we do not.”

There’s no way of knowing if someone else has bought the same plots and if they will also come forward, maybe even showing that they bought them before this family, so Seidemann says giving them away would be irresponsible.

”Just without the records for Gilbert, we can’t safely tell them that you can have that empty spot,” said Seidemann. “It might be someone else’s or it might be occupied.”

Gilbert Cemetery is the only cemetery in the state caught up receivership. Seidemann says only one other cemetery has ever been taken over in a similar process and while that situation has since been resolved, Gilbert remains in limbo and so do families like Taylor’s.

”And that’s the worst situation really because they’ve done what they thought was preparation for this terrible time so they don’t have to go through this now,” said Seidemann.

Taylor says she just wants to work it out so that when the time comes, her family can rest in peace in the spot they hand-picked and paid for years ago.

“I can’t even imagine trying to deal with this at time of need and I’m not willing to get backed into that corner. This needs to be settled,” said Taylor. “Working on this since 2018, I have come to you guys as a last resort because we need this settled.”

The Louisiana Cemetery Board oversees cemeteries across the state. WAFB has reached out to them about this as well. In the meantime, Dr. Seidemann says the family may need to get an attorney involved to help make this situation right.

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