CBS2 Exclusive: Family Furious Over South Plainfield Cemetery's Treatment Of Brother's Gravesite

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A grieving family has become furious over their loved one's gravesite.

"I mean it's disheartening, and very hurtful we have to come here today and find it like this," Plainfield resident Latonya Smith said.

As CBS2's Jessica Layton reported, Smith wasn't prepared for her brother's passing. She was visiting his gravesite on the year anniversary of his death. She definitely wasn't prepared to see the area dug up and the vault holding her brother's body visible from above ground.

"Who wants to visit a family member like this?" she said.

Timisha Smith was even more distraught by the looks of her father's final resting place at the South Plainfield cemetery.

"I can't even sit down and sit next to him because the ground looks disgusting," Timisha Smith said.

As Smith wiped away tears, the cemetery's superintendent insisted that he had to dig up the area for a funeral on Saturday.

"There's somebody going to be buried in that grave," Cemetery Superintendent, Joe Cabanas said.

Latonya said it's not the first time -- the gravesite has been exposed before, and she wants to know why, after a year grass still hasn't been planted.

"Our soil is very poor here," Cabanas said, "We do the best we can, we are a volunteer organization."

The Smiths don't buy it, and feet away from the dirt and mulch, a big board and balloons, emotions boiled over.

"This is how he has to lay, and that's not fair," Timisha said.

"How are we going to fix this?" Latonya asked.

The cemetery super was on hand into the night tidying up the grounds, but it might not matter to the Smith family. Latonya said she's considering going to court over the issues, and at the very least doesn't want her brother buried there anymore.