Mausoleum bankruptcy puts internments on hold

Connie Brun received a phone call Tuesday night that shocked, upset and worried her.

A scant week before the Glasford woman's family was coming to Peoria to entomb the ashes of her late aunt and uncle, she received a call from American Mausoleum informing her the facility had filed for bankruptcy, and therefore, the internment ceremony could not proceed.

"I was in shock, of course," she said Wednesday. "Mr. Wilton (Robert Wilton, the owner) said he was just dreading this call.

"He could, if the bankruptcy court would permit, leave the doors open, and we could hold our own services. The only problem being we would not be able to actually inter the ashes. I would have to 'simply hang' onto them until a later date."

On Monday, Wilton Services LLC, which does business as American Mausoleum, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Peoria. In its 150-page petition, the company states they have no cash on hand and owe The Wilton Mortuary Inc. slightly more than $1 million as well as about $575,000 on its mortgage.

Gary Rafool, American's attorney, said that's a bit misleading because many of the shareholders in American were also shareholders in Wilton, which acted as a "bank" for American Mausoleum.

Essentially, Wilton would collect the money for American and pay its bills.

Rafool said his client tried for months to find a buyer for the mausoleum, but there had been no offers. The mortuary had loaned the mausoleum money almost since it was purchased nearly eight years ago, the attorney said.

"Probably from day one, the mausoleum wasn't self-supporting," Rafool said.

That's little comfort to Brun, who had family flying in from Virginia and Nebraska. She said she contacted Wilton last month to confirm the ceremony.

"Everything was scheduled. He put the name plate on the niches and led me to believe that everything was fine," she said. "I personally believe he knew this was coming, and he shouldn't have proceeded as far as I am concerned. He could have said, 'We can't do this at this time,' and my cousin could have kept the ashes."

Brun spent much of Wednesday calling relatives, telling them to try to get their money back. Many couldn't because the plane tickets were nonrefundable.

Attempts to reach Wilton were unsuccessful Wednesday, but Rafool said his client did all he could to find alternatives. Things finally came to a head, Rafool said, about a week ago.

"They were trying to keep this operating, and you never like to pull the plug on something like this. But it just gets to the point where that's all we can put in and there is nothing more that we can put into it. These are not things that are planned months in advance," he said.

Included in the petition are several hundred people who appear to own crypts or niches at the mausoleum, which has come under fire in recent months for being in disrepair. Brun is one of those listed as she not only purchased niches for her aunt and uncle, but also has her parents' crypts there.

"There are people who are going to die between now and whatever who are not going to be interred with their husband, wife, son or daughter. That's a tragedy to those families. What do they do and how do they proceed? It impacts people in the worst way, the death of a loved one," she said.

An emergency hearing is set for Tuesday before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Perkins which will, in part, determine what can be done to keep the facility open, Rafool said.

U.S. Trustee Richard Barber said while it is very early in the case, the utmost concern is to give assurance and "security to people who have loved ones there."

"It is my understanding that the state of Illinois has a process that takes over in cases like this if a mausoleum fails," he said.

Carol Knowles, a spokeswoman for the comptroller's office, which would likely handle any state involvement, said an audit was conducted last year with no negative findings.

Andy Kravetz can be reached at (309) 686-3283 or akravetz@pjstar.com.