A memorial manufacturer has replaced the grave marker for a 5-year-old who died of cancer after first removing it from his grave, claiming his parents didn't pay the full bill.
After trying but failing to reach the parents, Reverend J.C. Shoaf, who owns the monument company, told the cemetery to collect the marker. Since then, he says his company's been harassed with threatening phone calls, NBC affiliate WCNC reported.
"I would never pick that thing up, not at all, I would mark the debt in full and forget it," said Shoaf.
Before ultimately deciding to forget the debt, viewers from across the country offered to help the family pay for the marker.
Jake Leatherman lost his battle with leukemia in the fall of 2016. When his parents recently went to visit his grave in a Hickory cemetery, they discovered the marker was missing.
