(WSVN) - There is a buried secret hidden in the backyard of an old Coconut Grove home, and one man is fighting to solve the “Grave Mystery” before it’s too late. Here is 7 Investigates’ Karen Hensel.
Many of the homes in historic Coconut Grove still have the vibrant look and feel of the past, but the backyard of one home built almost a century ago has been holding a secret for more than 70 years.
John Edwards, lived in home: “Born and raised in the house all my life. Me, mom and my grandmother. She always would tell me about the grave in the backyard.”
She is the late grandmother of John Edwards, Ola Lee Mobley, who moved from Georgia and owned the home since the 1970s.
This is the backyard burial vault. There is no name, only the year 1945.
John Edwards: “I growed up with this, kind of ordinary.”
Karen Hensel: “Did your grandmother or your mom ever tell you who was in that grave?”
John Edwards: “They mentioned there was a relative.”
Possibly a relative of a former owner, but John says, he never knew exactly who was buried behind the only home he had ever known.
We showed the burial vault to Florida historian Marvin Dunn.
Marvin Dunn, Florida historian: “Oh, there’s a body in there. No one – people didn’t just buy those things and have them hanging around. You bought a crypt to bury somebody in it, so I would say with 99% certainty that there’s somebody in there.”
Dunn also says a body buried in the backyard would not have been unusual at the time.
Marvin Dunn: “It was very common — in the South, in particular — to bury people on private property in the backyard. This could have been done in 1945, and it would not have raised an eyebrow. Don’t have the money to put it in Charlotte J. Memorial Cemetery? Put it in the backyard.”
But now the home and the grave no longer belong to John’s family.
John Edwards: “Sometimes when I talk, you know, I talk about these things, become very emotional.”
Emotional because, after his own mother died 10 years ago, John became the sole caretaker of his grandma, who, on her 105th birthday, was dubbed in a newspaper headline the “Coconut Grove matriarch.”
John Edwards: “My mom and my grandmother raised me, they raised me, and I figured that it’s only right to return the favor, and that’s what I did. I wasn’t going to put my grandmother in a home.”
When Ola Mobley passed away at the age of 106, she left the home to John, but another family member had a deed to the house and challenged the will.
That triggered a court battle over ownership. John Edwards lost, and his relative sold the house.
Karen Hensel: “What is your concern that’s going to happen to that grave?”
John Edwards: “They’re going to build on top of it.”
Permits have now been filed for demolition and to build a new home.
Marvin Dunn: “The crypt should be removed and taken to the cemetery and properly placed.”
But will that happen? Once we started asking questions, a Miami Police detective was assigned to the case, and when we reached the new owner, he agreed to let someone go in and open the vault to determine who, if anyone, is buried back there, but at their own expense.
As for what John wants…
John Edwards: “For the dead to rest in peace. Possibly exhume the body so that our loved one can rest in peace. I always have faith. I try, at least.”
Faith, he hopes, will help him find a way to solve this grave mystery.
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