Tonight, a news alert out of Pinellas County. Just hours ago, leaders confirmed hundreds of graves from a destroyed African American cemetery lie below this Clearwater business 10 investigates emerald Morrow has been tracking this process for nearly three years and was the first to break this story tonight Emerald. At first, they estimated there were dozens of graves. Now they're talking more than three times that. For years archaeologists they have been trying to figure out exactly how many graves are here on the property at Frank Crum and they are closer than ever now to having those answers and they confirmed to us today that there are at least 328 Grays not just here on the property but also extending out to Missouri Ave. The community knew this was coming, but had no idea what to expect. They were buried wherever their loved ones could find a place to bear them. Just four hours ago, archaeologists with Cardinal presented this report to the Clearwater community showing just how many graves they found from the Saint Matthews Baptist Church Cemetery along Missouri Ave. Tonight's estimate of 328 graves includes the 70 they confirmed last year. The solid red lines in this image show where the archaeologists believe the graves are. The church started the cemetery in 1902 and it operated through the 1940s. But researchers say in 1955, pressure from developers drove the church to sell the land for $15,000. Two years later, that developer flipped the property, making 110. 1000 today it's the site of the Frankcrum staffing firm, the owner told us last year, even though his company had no idea graves were there. He's ready to work toward a solution. To me, it's it's the next logical step to find out. You know what? What the what the perimeter of the of the old cemetery was, how many possible remains we're talking about. I think we all recognize that. You know something happened back in, in the 50s and the fact that remains were were left here is an injustice and you know I think everybody wants to make that right and and try to handle that appropriately. Emerald this is a heartbreaking discovery for this community. What is next in this process? The community has organized a committee so they can try to figure out how they want to see this space memorialized. The N double ACP has also stepped in. Their job is to try to figure out how they can be a facilitator between the city, Frank Crum, and the community on how they move forward. Well, this discovery is the latest of many grave sites across the Tampa Bay area. The first was Zion Cemetery in 2019, where archaeologists found nearly 300 graves at Robles Park Village and two neighboring businesses. Since then, more than one. 1000 graves have been found at locations from Saint Pete to Odessa. We have all of Emerald's investigations into these grave sites on 10 tampabay.com.
