By Andy Gardner.

AKWESASNE – A surviving relative of a man whose disinterred corpse was discovered in a casket in Kateri Tekakwitha Cemetery in August says she wants someone to be held accountable for the grave being disturbed.

Mary Ann Jackson, who lives in Cornwall, says there was no DNA testing performed to confirm a familial match to what she and her family believes is her father’s remains. However, the information she’s gotten leads her and her relatives to believe the body is that of her father, Alfred Peters, who died in 1996 at age 65.

“[Investigators] had the name Alfred, they had the age, 65, they had balding, and he had all his teeth, and he died in September. These all put together made me believe it had to have been him,” Jackson said. “My brother, myself and my uncle got the information the police had, and they showed us pictures and a few pieces of evidence they had … the three of us came to the conclusion – it was most likely to be my father.”

She said connecting those dots left her “in shock, or limbo,” dealing with feelings that she had trouble putting into words. She said no one knows why her father was dug up and placed in the back of the Kateri Tekakwitha Cemetery, in the west side of the village, near Park and 3rd streets.

Peter’s remains were discovered during a cleanup of the cemetery in August. Officials at the time said a volunteer from the community found a casket in the weeds with human remains inside that at the time weren’t identified.

“His casket was a mess. All the ID numbers in the casket that could have helped identify him were damaged,” Jackson said. “The casket wasn’t locked. And his body was not, as you would think, laying down on his back. It looked like he was trying to get out.”

“They said he’d been there two and a half years,” she added.

Peters had been buried in an unmarked grave. Although she doesn’t know for sure, Jackson speculates that since the grave was unmarked, it may have been discovered while digging another grave and removed from the ground with the intention of relocating it.

She said at the time of his death 25 years ago, her family didn’t have the means to buy a headstone right away. Another relative was supposed to take care of that.

“We’re not rich people,” Jackson said. “She just never took care of anything.”

Although she doesn’t know for sure, she speculates that since the grave was unmarked, it may have been discovered while digging another grave and removed from the ground with the intention of relocating it.

She believes there was no DNA testing done because Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service didn’t investigate the incident as a crime. She says her father’s body was initially sent to the Quebec provincial coroner’s office, and she feels they ignored the case and didn’t properly follow up to confirm his identity. Jackson said she feels AMPS did everything they could to help her, and she is thankful for their assistance. She said she’s also grateful to Donaldson Funeral Home in Massena, who handled the remains after they’d been returned from the Quebec coroner.

“He was buried with no questions asked,” Jackson said, adding that the provincial coroner’s office “never asked any [family members] for verification.”

“If that’s how they’re going to treat the remains of an indigenous person, how many remains are sitting in that (Quebec) morgue collecting dust?”

“This is a time for our people to be heard, and our voices to be heard, and not be ignored,” she added.

Although she says she has no intention of filing a lawsuit, she wants to see someone held accountable for what happened to her father.

“What if it was a chief’s father? What would he have done?” Jackson said. “We’re not out to sue. I’m not out to sue. Nobody wants to take accountability.”

During the fall, Peters’s body was reburied in the St. Regis cemetery, with a headstone, Jackson said.