Cemetery Detectives

I solved a mystery this week!

Last month, my friend Amy Shea, author of the book Too Poor to Die: The Hidden Realities of Dying in the Margins, came to visit me in Louisville. We went to visit a few of the city's indigent burial cemeteries—that is, where Louisville buries those who can't afford disposition themselves and whose families can't afford or refuse to claim them.

At River Valley Cemetery, we noticed something odd: While the Parks Department website said the cemetery had reached capacity in 2008, we found several new burials from 2026. Where did the extra space come from?

To be clear, Amy and I didn't think anything nefarious was happening. We figured it was probably a bureaucratic issue. And we were right!

Here's how I found out:

• I asked my librarian friend if she could look up local property records pertaining to the cemetery, but those didn't turn up anything unusual.

• I emailed the Parks Department. Nothing.

• I emailed the city's Cemetery Board. Their email didn't work.

Finally, I attended one of the Cemetery Board's bimonthly public meetings—at 11 a.m. on a Tuesday. Good thing I get to make my own schedule!

I really hit the jackpot at this meeting. Not only were the members of the Cemetery Board in attendance, but there were also representatives from the Parks Department and the Coroner's Office. With all the necessary stakeholders at hand, I easily got an answer to my question.

Initially, the Parks Department had thought that a certain section of land adjacent to River Valley Cemetery belonged to the Port Authority. As it turns out, the Parks Department owned that land all along. That means they were able to use the extra space for additional burials.

Mystery solved!

The moral of the story? You can advocate for the dead when they can't advocate for themselves.