• Colin Flanders ©️ Seven Days
• Plot 1181 at Lakeview Cemetery in Burlington

This is the unhappy story of burial plot 1181.

The tree-shaded gravesite at Lakeview Cemetery sits next to plot 1180, where a 27-year-old man — let's call him Daniel — is buried. Daniel's family purchased both plots when he died in 2019 so that one day, someone he loved could lie beside him.

But two years later, the City of Burlington made a mistake: It buried the ashes of two other young men, brothers, in the spot.

The error was discovered last fall, dragging two families into an emotionally charged legal conflict. Daniel's family wants the urns to be removed from the plot they own. So the city informed Rebequa Bartlett this spring that it would be relocating her sons' ashes to another plot. But Bartlett says digging up the urns would be too painful for her to bear. She's suing to stop the city's plan. Efforts to settle the case have gone nowhere.

Daniel's family told Seven Days through an attorney that they do not want to be named in this story. They also declined to say who they were reserving the plot for. But in a lengthy statement, they described how the city's error has hurt them.

Daniel was "one of the kindest and most gentle souls we have ever had the pleasure of knowing," the family wrote, and his unexpected death left many unanswered questions.

"This plot was purchased to ease some of our earthly grief in the hope that two devoted souls, separated in life, would one day rest together forever in the afterlife," they wrote. Denying them that comfort would be "an unbearable resolution."

In a cruel twist, it was Bartlett's own search for comfort that first drew her to the shady spot.

Her oldest son, Thomas, died in 2017 at the age of 26 from complications related to a congenital heart defect. Bartlett had him cremated. She hoped to one day pass his ashes down to her younger son, Timothy, who was in prison when his brother died and took the loss hard. Then Timothy died of a drug overdose in 2021 at the age of 29, forcing Bartlett to consider what would happen to their urns once she's gone. She decided to bury them together at Lakeview, a serene, meticulously landscaped cemetery nestled between North Avenue and Lake Champlain.

As a city staffer led Bartlett and her husband through the graveyard in May 2021, they noticed Daniel's black, heart-shaped headstone beneath a tree. An inscription revealed he had died young.

Bartlett liked the idea of burying her sons near someone their own age. So, she paid $750 for plot 1182 and scheduled a ceremony for a date between their August birthdays.

Bartlett's graveside eulogy, which she shared with Seven Days, noted how her sons had been inseparable growing up. They even looked so much alike, she said, that they were sometimes mistaken for twins: Tom and Tim — "my TNT."

Bartlett's husband, Choya, had come into her children's lives when they were still young. They were the children he'd "always wanted," he said in his own eulogy, recalling how he had bonded with them over Little League and baseball cards.

Before leaving the cemetery that day, Choya dropped a memento into the grave — a stuffed rabbit he had owned since he was a boy.

The Bartletts did not notice that the cemetery had dug the hole for their sons' burial in the wrong plot. It was not until two years later, when Daniel's family visited his grave one day, that they noticed plot 1181 had been filled. They were devastated, they said, and immediately notified the city of the mistake.

Faced with a decision, the city chose to honor Daniel's family's ownership of plot 1181.

• Colin Flanders ©️ Seven Days
• Lakeview Cemetery

Last fall, Bartlett received a call from Lakeview's caretaker asking her to come to the cemetery. The caretaker did not want to provide details over the phone, she said, but he eventually relented and explained the burial mix-up. He said she needed to sign some paperwork so that the city could dig up her sons' urns and rebury them.

She couldn't believe it. She refused and hung up, she said, then tried to push the conversation out of her mind. "Sort of pretending that it wasn't real," she said.

An email from the city in February 2024 brought her back to reality. "We plan to move them this spring and would like to know if you want to be present," wrote Cindi Wight, the director of the city's Department of Parks, Recreation & Waterfront, which oversees the cemeteries.

State law outlines how human remains can be removed in graveyards. A cemetery must get a permit from the town or city clerk where it is located, and certain family members, including parents, can object.

The city's email prompted Bartlett to sue Burlington last April, claiming fraud and breach of contract. The city agreed not to seek a body-removal permit while it tried to negotiate a settlement. But with neither family willing to budge, a judge may ultimately need to weigh in.

The city won't discuss the matter. In a statement, it acknowledged the mistake and said it is "deeply sorry" to the families. "We intend to work in good faith to address the harm caused by this error, and find an outcome that is fair and reasonable," it reads.

The statement does not explain how the mistake occurred, nor whether the city has taken any steps to prevent it from happening again. Wight, the parks and rec director, declined to speak to Seven Days and did not respond to written follow-up questions.

Bartlett said she knows Daniel's family isn't to blame for the mix-up. "They didn't ask for this," she said. Still, seeing her sons' urns again — and her husband's stuffed bunny — would be too much to bear, she said.

In its statement, Daniel's family expressed sympathy for Bartlett.

"We acknowledge that no one wins in this situation and no matter the outcome someone will suffer greatly," the family wrote. "It is the city's responsibility to rectify this situation, and to restore our, and the public's, trust."