Sam Montano, a Colorado man, spent decades visiting what he believed was his grandmother Bessie Zamora’s grave in La Junta, only to find out that her body may not actually be there. The city revealed they don’t know where Zamora is buried and cannot afford to investigate. Montano had buried his own mother, Florence—whose dying wish was to be laid to rest beside her mother—near Zamora’s headstone in 2023, only to later learn that plot belongs to another family. A judge has since ordered the city to pay for relocating both Zamora’s headstone and Florence’s cremains. Montano called the situation a painful violation of his family’s faith and memories.
For more information see Tyler Cunnington “A woman is missing from her gravesite; city leaders have no answers as to why,” KOLD News 13, April 30, 2025.
