Family sues cemetery over missing body

A family is suing a Placer County cemetery after a man’s body was found missing from his Lincoln burial plot and another woman was buried in the space reserved for his wife.

The family of Frank Farinha, who died in 1947, is questioning Lincoln Cemetery’s record-keeping practices. The lawsuit also names Placer County Cemetery District No. 1, the agency that runs the public memorial park.

The mystery began after Farinha’s wife, Mary, died at age 105 and the family wanted to bury her next to her husband beneath a double tombstone.

But the cemetery had sold the plot to someone else, and when cemetery workers tried to disinter Frank Farinha, they couldn’t find him. Local historians say it’s not uncommon for records to be lost.