GREENE COUNTY — A Bedford man has changed the locks on a headstone business after he says the shop’s owner failed to make required payments.
WRTV Investigates told you about mounting consumer complaints facing Austin Memorial Arts, a monument business, located at 323 N 250 W in Bloomfield.
Austin Memorial Arts sits on several parcels of land, including one owned by Richard King, the owner of Austin Memorial Arts.
The main building for Austin Memorial Arts rests on another parcel of land owned by Richard and Mary Fennessey of Bedford.
The Fennesseys filed a lawsuit on April 3 saying King has not made any payments to them since November 2023.
“It’s unfortunate,” Richard Fennessey told WRTV Investigates Kara Kenney.
According to the lawsuit, Fennessey and King entered into a “Contract for Sale of Real Estate” in 2014, in which King agreed to purchase the property from the Fennesseys.
“He’s been paying me for the last ten years,” said Fennessey. “I’m not sure what happened.”
Customers told WRTV Investigates Kara Kenney the business closed its doors in January with no warning.
As part of the real estate agreement, King was required to pay $514 a month as well as annual property taxes but he has not made any payments since November 2023, according to the lawsuit.
King also owes $2,568 in property taxes for 2023 as well, the lawsuit alleges.
The Fennesseys are asking the court to terminate the purchase agreement so they can retake possession of the property.
No hearing date has been scheduled yet.
Richard Fennessey said he changed the locks on the building, which currently houses a bunch of headstones and paperwork for Austin Memorial Arts.
Fennessey said he’s been unable to reach Richard King.
Fennessey said he has gathered and organized paperwork related to lawsuits that have been slipped through the door at Austin Memorial Arts.
The Bedford man hopes to help customers get their headstones or money back and he will wait for the court’s instructions.
As WRTV Investigates reported, dozens of Central Indiana families have filed lawsuits Austin Memorial Arts, Richard King or both, saying they never got what they paid for.
WRTV Investigates counted 77 lawsuits filed alleging more than $228,000 in losses.
As WRTV Investigates reported, Indiana State Police is conducting a criminal investigation into Austin Memorial Arts.
When WRTV Investigates stopped by on March 13, the doors were locked during business hours.
Inside, Austin Memorial Arts was full of headstones, a desk with paperwork sitting on top, and other signs of a business that had recently been operating.
WATCH | Families file dozens of lawsuits against Greene County headstone company
WRTV Investigates did some checking and found no business registered with the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office under the name “Austin Memorial Arts.”
King is listed on the Better Business Bureau website as the owner of Austin Memorial Arts.
WRTV talked to many of the families after a March 13 court hearing in Greene County.
Gregg Roudebush of Worthington, Indiana said he paid a $10,000 deposit in December 2022 for a pyramid monument for himself and his wife.
“We are going to be cremated and put in the same box,” said Roudebush. “I don't want my kids to have to go through this."
On February 16, Roudebush filed a small claims lawsuit against Austin Memorial Arts and he later amended it to also include Richard King.
Roudebush’s lawsuit is still pending and is scheduled for a hearing on May 8.
“I just want my stone,” said Roudebush.
Other families WRTV spoke with said are grieving lost loved ones, like Kimberly Walls.
Her father, Larry Martindale, died in September 2023 in a farming accident.
“It was very unexpected, very sudden,” said Walls. “(King) claimed to be my dad's friend and respect my dad, and then for him to do this."
Walls said her family ordered a monument from Austin Memorial Arts but did not receive it before the doors closed in January 2024.
"I just don't understand how someone could do this to people in their time of grief,” said Walls.
They filed a small claims lawsuit and on March 16, they obtained a $3,745 judgment against Austin Memorial Arts and King.
"I doubt we will ever see it, but I'm hoping that the State Police will be getting the criminal case so that we can see criminal charges,” said Walls. “I'd like to see him in a very small, dark, dank jail cell."
WRTV Investigates reached out to Indiana State Police.
“The Indiana State Police is conducting a criminal investigation into the matter,” said Sgt. Kevin Getz with ISP’s Bloomington Post. “The Greene County Prosecutor’s Office is aware the Bloomington Post is conducting an active investigation and we are requesting potential victims please contact 812-332-4411.”
Small claims hearings related to Austin Memorial Arts are scheduled into May.
The court has already granted 11 judgments totaling more than $40,000 including $1,495 for Teresa Miller of Bloomington.
“I just can't believe there are so many people affected and we probably won't get our money back,” said Miller.
Two lawsuits have been dismissed by the consumer.
The majority of the small claims lawsuits are still pending, court records show.
Richard King did not show up to court on March 13 as the magistrate heard from more than a dozen families.
WRTV Investigates was in court and did not see an attorney there to represent King or Austin Memorial Arts.
Since WRTV Investigates left Greene County, we’ve tried calling Austin Memorial Arts but the number has been disconnected.
WRTV Investigates also emailed him and tried contacting possible family members of King’s with no response.
The Indiana Attorney General’s office has received 10 complaints against Austin Memorial Arts for failing to provide a refund.
All 10 complaints are still listed as open, and none have been resolved, according to a complaint log WRTV obtained from the Indiana Attorney General’s Office.
