LA family’s been visiting empty grave to mourn their mother for 4 years after headstone mishap at cemetery: lawsuit

Grave error.

Loved ones who spent years grieving their beloved family matriarch at her Los Angeles burial site were horrified to learn they had been visiting an empty grave the whole time due to a misplaced headstone, according to a lawsuit and reports.

The family of the late Hasmik Demirchayn – who fled oppression from the Soviet Union in the 1980s for a better life in the US – spent the past nearly four years coming to grieve, pray, celebrate birthdays and even put up a decorated Christmas tree at an empty plot that had a headstone with her name, according to local reports. 

Marine, Hasmik’s middle child, has been overwhelmed with guilt and shame for visiting the wrong gravestone, she tearfully recalled to 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.”