The longtime groundskeeper of Kalispell’s Conrad Memorial Cemetery and his son vanished earlier this year, disappearing with crucial records needed to sell burial plots and inter bodies.  

The C.E. Conrad Cemetery Association, which owns and operates the historic burial ground, has since sued James “Jim” Korn, the cemetery’s sexton since 2002, and his son and assistant, Kevin Korn, for taking off with a trove of documents and equipment from the grounds. Neither the Korns nor the missing records have turned up as of press time. 

Attorneys representing the cemetery association filed a civil proceeding against the Korns in Flathead County Justice Court on Aug. 13. 

Stolen records included cemetery plot maps, plot sale index cards, logbooks, sales records, financial records, email addresses, office computers and phones, according to a sworn written statement from Board of Trustees President Jeff Ellingson. The board is the association's managing body.   

“As a result, the association’s ability to operate the cemetery business, including allowing grieving family members to lay their loved ones to rest at the cemetery, is at a standstill until the cemetery maps in particular can be retrieved from [the] Korns,” he said in the statement.  

Without plat maps indicating which lots are available and which are already sold, the cemetery can't make new sales. Families have either had to delay their burial arrangements until the records are found or find other cemeteries, according to Ellingson.  

At least 15 lot sales were lost as of June, and more are expected until the records are located. 

JIM KORN was a trusted and reliable employee for over two decades, board members told the Inter Lake. 

Korn was responsible for the upkeep of the cemetery, a landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Established by Alicia Conrad following the death of her husband, Charles E. Conrad, it opened in 1903.  

Over 18,000 burial sites dot the 104 acres of rolling green hills and towering trees that provide a quiet escape from the bustle of the city it overlooks. 

But over the past year, Korn, who is in his 90s, had been experiencing serious physical health issues that affected his work, Ellingson said.  

Discussions about finding a successor had been ongoing for months, and the board hoped Korn would help weigh in on the hiring process.   

But about mid-May, Ellingson learned that the keys to the office were missing, he testified in court. Ellingson deduced that Jim and Kevin Korn were the only people who could have taken the keys. 

By June 2, the board instructed the father, son and their attorney to return the keys, which were put back the evening of June 23, according to Ellingson.  

Ellingson and other maintenance staff opened the doors the next morning to find the office ransacked. Four drawers of index cards identifying sold lots were missing from a floor to ceiling fire safe that contained other important documents, according to Ellingson’s testimony.  

The internment index cards, which identify occupied lots, were still in the safe. But the stolen cards showed which unoccupied lots were reserved.  

Records were also stored on a computer in the office, but that too was stolen, Ellingson testified. Backup thumb drives presumably left at Jim’s residence were nowhere to be found.  

The stolen items, which included printers, phones and computers, were valued at $2,500, according to Ellingson.  

The last contact Ellingson had with Jim Korn was in a June 24 email. Ellingson had been urging Korn to return the records so the cemetery could continue selling lots.  

Korn wrote back that he’d respond to Ellingson’s questions after speaking with his attorney.  

The Korns have since gone radio silent. The cemetery board reached out to the duo's friends, family and their attorneys, but without luck, Ellingson said.   

The Flathead County Sheriff’s Department searched several homes on Aug. 26 but were unsuccessful in locating the Korns or the records, according to documents signed by Sheriff Brian Heino. 

The Korns have since been fired from the cemetery. Customers were directed to Adam Mills, managing partner of Johnson-Gloschat Funeral Home, until Jeff Epperly was hired as the new sexton on Sept. 1.   

“Please note, Jim Korn no longer lives or works here," reads a handwritten note taped to the cemetery office door as of Thursday. 

The cemetery's office is tucked on the ground floor of a small yellow cottage by the burial ground gates. The property is intended to be the sexton's residence, but Ellingson testified that Jim Korn rarely slept there because he and his son lived together in town.  

BOARD MEMBER Mark Hensley said Jim Korn was passionate about his job and rarely took time off, which made his disappearance –— along with the records –— so perplexing. 

“It’s just strange. Strangest thing ever,” Hensley said.  

Because of Korn's age and trustworthy track record, Hensley speculated that Kevin Korn may be the brains behind the operation.  

“We don’t think that Jim had anything to do with it, to be honest,” Hensley said. 

Ellingson said he did not know why the Korns took off with the records.  

Keith Nelson’s family is grappling with the loss of the cemetery’s records. He has relatives buried in the cemetery and planned to inter his dead father there. Nelson's mother wants to be buried beside her husband when she dies, but she doesn’t have a copy of the paperwork proving ownership of the lots.  

“She’s a little distraught over it,” Nelson said. 

Though Nelson no longer lives in Kalispell, he grew up in the city and attended Flathead High School with Kevin Korn in the late 1970s. Nelson remembered him as a “troubled kid.” 

The younger Korn worked for the cemetery association for six or seven years, according to Ellingson. He was hired as his fathers’ assistant to help with bookkeeping on the computers. 

Jim Korn always said that if anything happened to him, his son would be there to aid the cemetery, Ellingson told the Inter Lake.  

THE CEMETERY'S limbo status has led to lost sales, Ellingson testified. Often people will buy multiple lots next to each other for their relatives.  

The family of a three-year-old who drowned was looking to buy a group of eight lots, but the cemetery was unable to sell any.     

“They still wanted to be near their nephew when they were ultimately buried, so they went to another cemetery,” Ellingson testified in court. 

Attorneys argue that the cemetery is entitled to compensation from the Korns for losses incurred until the records are returned. 

If the records never get found, Ellingson told the Inter Lake that reconstructing the maps and determining plot sales is possible “but it will be very time consuming and expensive.”  

The cemetery is now transitioning to an online system, Ellingson said. 

Still, the board does not intend to pursue criminal charges against the Korns, Ellingson told the Inter Lake.  

"We don't want to throw stones, we just want to cure the problem,” he said.   

Reporter Jack Underhill can be reached at 758-4407 and [email protected].