SAN DIEGO — The family largely credited with popularizing Juneteenth here in San Diego is now looking for their patriarch's body.
More than 20 years after he was buried.
The Cooper family held their annual Juneteenth celebration Saturday, but the day that was meant for jubilee is marred by the shocking news.
The family says they're devastated and have been led to believe their father was in his grave that they've been visiting for the past 22 years.
The family is not holding back and telling everybody what happened, and they want everybody to know they don't know where their fathers' remains are.
For 22 years they've been visiting a grave site that they now know was empty.
Sidney Cooper started the Juneteenth celebration in San Diego many have known for 50 years. It is a celebration of Black Independence Day.
Many came out to the celebration, but the family is heartbroken by the missing remains.
The Cooper family's attorney spoke and said, "the family has been praying to an empty plot for 22 years and Sidney Cooper is still lost as we speak. They don't know where he is to reunite this beautiful couple in their eternal rest."
The Cooper family learned this in March when they went to bury their mother. They are now filing a lawsuit against Greenwood Memorial Park and Mortuary.
The family says their patriarch Sidney Cooper, the unofficial mayor of Imperial Avenue as he was known, and his wife Thelma were supposed to be buried together. But when it was time to lay her to rest the family learned Sydney's body and casket were missing.
The cemetery staff says they don't know what happened.
The family says, "This is unimaginable, and they can't believe this is real. It's something you think you would see in a movie. It has been the hardest three months of the family's life. The family does not believe Greenwood Cemetery has been working diligently to help them."
The attorneys for Cooper, Jones and siblings filed the lawsuit on Friday against the cemetery and its parent company.
They want to know where the remains are, and they are seeking damages.