HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Family members of those buried at the lost College Hill Cemetery in Tampa continue to fight for answers on where the graves of their loved ones are located. But, on Thursday, they learned there’d been some progress in their calls for action.
Angela Alderman has made it her mission to give a voice to those who are lost at College Hill Cemetery.
"There's 1,200 souls, so it's a big thing," said Alderman.
Her great-uncle was buried there in 1917. Alderman believes where College Hill Cemetery once was could be the now Italian Club Cemetery's parking lot.
She's been pushing for a scan of the grounds to know if those buried within College Hill still rest there or were moved somewhere else.
"If the scan says there was something, I'm going to fight to make sure that doesn't happen so they're honored and they're not parked on every day," said Alderman.
On Thursday, Tampa City Council got an update on a story ABC Action News shared last December.
A memo from Carl Brody, an Assistant City Attorney, said on scanning College Hill or any other private cemetery, any such action must be done in coordination with the private property owner.
"We have concern with doing a forced GPR, ground penetrating radar, on any of these sites because they are private property," said Brody during Thursday's City Council meeting.
The memo stated city administration got a verbal agreement from the Italian Club that they would scan their cemetery properties and give the results to the city when it was done.
ABC Action News contacted the Italian Club for comment and is waiting to hear back.
The memo also said the Parks and Rec Department is in the process of updating its cemetery policy.
"We're going to move forward with limiting parking on city cemeteries and any loading or other activities that aren't consistent with the cemetery property," said Brody.
For now, Alderman will keep waiting for closure.
"At the end of the day, I find peace in my heart that I at least found him and his final resting place, and along with him, we were able to get the beautiful marker so they can never be forgotten again," said Alderman. "To me, I find peace that the marker can at least be the tombstone for those that are lost there."
