{"id":73077,"date":"2026-11-11T21:30:36","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T03:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=73077"},"modified":"2026-11-11T21:30:36","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T03:30:36","slug":"bemidji-area-grave-is-brian-fairbanks-buried-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/bemidji-area-grave-is-brian-fairbanks-buried-there\/","title":{"rendered":"Bemidji-Area Grave: Is Brian Fairbanks Buried There?"},"content":{"rendered":"

BELTRAMI COUNTY, Minnesota<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2013 A family wants answers about Brian Fairbanks’ grave.<\/p>\n

His brothers, Aaron and Andrew Fairbanks, filed an exhumation petition in Beltrami County District Court on November 3, 2026.<\/p>\n

The filing raises questions about two cemeteries, three deceased men, and several caskets reportedly moved between gravesites.<\/p>\n

Family Reports Casket Was Removed<\/h2>\n

Brian Fairbanks died April 9, 2026, at age 31, according to the petition.<\/p>\n

His family held a graveside service May 21 at Sugar Bush Cemetery in Beltrami County.<\/p>\n

The casket was not opened during that service, the petition states.<\/p>\n

Two days later, Brian’s aunt, Amanda Fairbanks, learned that workers were digging at the gravesite.<\/p>\n

In a sworn statement, she says she went to the cemetery and saw a black metal casket being removed.<\/p>\n

She alleges a funeral director told her the wrong body had been buried there.<\/p>\n

Amanda says workers then placed a brown wooden casket into the same grave.<\/p>\n

Second Cemetery Raises More Questions<\/h2>\n

The petition also describes a troubling incident at White Earth Cemetery on May 23.<\/p>\n

Relatives of Herbert Libby Jr. expected a black metal casket for his burial, according to the filing.<\/p>\n

Instead, a brown wooden casket arrived, prompting family members to request that it be opened.<\/p>\n

A relative reportedly recognized the person inside as Donald Bohn, who had died May 13.<\/p>\n

But Bohn’s sister-in-law had collected what the funeral home described as his cremated remains on May 22.<\/p>\n

According to the petition, Herbert Libby Jr. was brought to White Earth Cemetery in a black metal casket on May 24.<\/p>\n

The filing identifies Northern Peace Funeral Home as the business handling the arrangements.<\/p>\n

It does not include the funeral home’s response to these allegations.<\/p>\n

Brothers Ask Court to Open Grave<\/h2>\n

Aaron and Andrew Fairbanks want an exhumation to establish whether Brian’s remains are in his family’s burial plot.<\/p>\n

Their attorney, Michael D. Sharkey, requested an expedited hearing before winter frost makes excavation more difficult.<\/p>\n

The proposal calls for licensed funeral directors to assist with the process and help verify the remains’ identity.<\/p>\n

The filing does not establish whose remains are currently buried in Brian’s grave.<\/p>\n

It also does not contain a ruling approving the exhumation.<\/p>\n

Minnesota’s disinterment law<\/a> sets rules for removing remains and opening caskets.<\/p>\n

Readers can search case 04-CV-26-2779<\/strong> through Minnesota Court Records Online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For the Fairbanks family, the central question remains whether Brian was buried where they believe he rests.<\/p>\n

I’m Adrian Cole reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 TRF News. All rights reserved.<\/small><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A family wants answers about Brian Fairbanks’ grave.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brian Fairbanks’ family seeks to exhume a Beltrami County grave after a court petition describes switched caskets and questions about three men’s remains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"","timeOption":"","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":""},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[1212,1224,32150],"trf_mt_town":[29430],"trf_mt_county":[29512],"trf_mt_topic":[29493],"trf_mt_series":[],"class_list":["post-73077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-beltrami-county","tag-bemidji","tag-donald-bohn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73077"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73080,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73077\/revisions\/73080"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73077"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_town","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_town?post=73077"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_county","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_county?post=73077"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_topic?post=73077"},{"taxonomy":"trf_mt_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/trf_mt_series?post=73077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}