Grave error.
Family members who had been mourning their beloved family matriarch at her burial site in Los Angeles were shocked to discover they had been visiting an empty grave all along due to a misplaced headstone, according to a lawsuit and media reports.
The relatives of Hasmik Demirchayn – who escaped Soviet oppression in the 1980s for a new life in the US – spent almost four years at the site, grieving, praying, celebrating birthdays, and even setting up a decorated Christmas tree at a plot that mistakenly bore her name on the headstone, based on local reports.
Marine, Hasmik’s middle child, expressed her deep feelings of guilt and shame for having visited the incorrect grave, she tearfully shared with NBC4 Los Angeles.
“When she passed, I thought, ‘At least, we have given her a peaceful, respectful place to rest.’ But seeing her memorial tablet placed on the wrong grave, it felt like losing her all over again,” the daughter said. “We were just talking to an empty spot.”
After Hasmik Demirchayn died of a heart attack in 2021, her children buried her in one of the plots that the family had purchased in 2008 at the Hollywood Hills location of Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
Since then, her children have come to visit the gravesite and commemorate a woman they described to NBC Los Angeles as the “perfect mom.”
“For a year, I was there every weekend, taking her flowers, and sitting and talking to her,” Marine told local station.
It wasn’t until this April when the children had to bury their father, who had been happily married to his wife for several decades, that they realized there had been a terrible mistake.
Chris, Hasmik’s son, told KTLA News that during his father’s funeral service, a mortician confessed to him that his mother’s headstone was above an empty plot, while her body was buried in a plot with no marker.
The gravestone had been placed in “space 1,” while the beloved matriarch was buried in “space 2,” one plot over to the right, according to KTLA.
“It was an embarrassing moment. It was a shocking moment. It’s a violation of trust,” Chris said, recalling the shocking conversation. “I feel betrayed because we have been speaking to an empty plot.”
Despite the cemetery fixing the mistake and moving the headstone to the right burial spot, the family has filed a lawsuit in the hopes that a similar mistake can be avoided in the future.
The Demirchyan family sued Forest Lawn Mortuary and the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Association for fraud, breach of contract, negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress and is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, according to a lawsuit obtained by PEOPLE.
“While we appreciate Forest Lawn for taking appropriate action to correct their error right after they discovered it, it still is inexcusable because this would not have come to light if my client hadn’t suffered another loss,” Rosie Zilifyan, the family’s attorney, told local outlets.
Apologizing and fixing the mistake doesn’t take away the heartache, the family said.
“They think saying sorry and moving it makes up for what was four years of mourning that we did, and we’re still grieving,” George Eskichyan, Hasmik’s grandson, told KTLA. “This adds an extra layer of hurt and pain.”
