Hasmik Demirchayn’s children still describe as “the perfect mom” almost four years after her death.
As with many immigrants, DeMirchan gave everything to her three children and seven grandchildren, encouraging them to strive for a better life, since setting up in Los Angeles in the late 1980s during the collapse of the Soviet Union.
“She was caring, she loved, and she was tough because she was hoping for our outcomes,” explained Hasmic’s son Chris DeMirchan.
When the beloved patriarch died suddenly after a 2021 heart attack, her children confirmed that the family was lying down within days in a burial area they purchased more than a decade ago at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park location in Hollywood Hills.
For three years, the family met frequently on birthdays, anniversaries and holidays, and frequently at the cemetery where the forest lawns placed Hasmik’s gravestones in her name.
“For a year, I would take her flowers every weekend and sit down and talk to her,” Marine DeMirchan recalled tearfully.
Almost four years later, in April 2025, when Chris and Marin’s father died, they returned to the Memorial Park and buried him next to their beloved wife of decades.
However, during his father’s viewing, the sadistic family was given “shocking” news. The cemetery where the family had been gathering for their mothers for four years was empty.
“(The official) showed us that the grass in the forest had been ruined and that the (memorial) tablet was placed in the wrong cemetery, an empty cemetery,” recalled Chris’ conversation. “It was an embarrassing moment. It was a shocking moment. It’s a violation of trust.”
Forest lawns were revised within 24 hours by placing the burial marker on the plot to the right where the burial marker was actually buried.
Marine, the middle child, said she was experiencing a sense of guilt and shame for not properly visiting her mother for four years.
“When she passed away, I thought, ‘At least we gave her a place of peace and respect.’ But seeing her memorial tablet was placed in the wrong grave, it felt like she had lost her again,” the daughter said. “We were talking to an empty spot.”
Chris filed a lawsuit against the Forest Lawn Funeral and the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Association, alleging the effects of fraud, breach of contract, negligence and negligence of emotional distress. He seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
“The damage caused to this family cannot be overstated,” said Chris’ attorney, Rosie Gillificaan. “The lawsuit attempts to hold forest lawns accountable and ensure that other grieving families do not receive such devastating mistakes.”
Forest Lawn did not reply to NBC Los Angeles’ requests for comment.
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