Hundreds of Kobe Bryant fans have been paying their respects to the late legend at the wrong gravesite.
USA Today reports that Pacific View Memorial Park had to clean up the flowers visitors left for Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant because people have been leaving them on their private plot, according to a media relations specialist for the cemetery. “We can confirm that is not Kobe and Gianna’s resting place. We cannot divulge any additional details as to where they are. But we can tell you that is not the correct location,” said Ashley Bunton of Service Corporation International, which owns the Southern California cemetery.
Because of the amount of misled visitation the cemetery received, the graveyard was been forced to raise its security. “Just a lot of people coming wandering the cemetery and looking to see if they can locate the burial site,’’ Bunton said. “They’re just having to monitor things that are going on there.” Kobe and Gianna’s death certificates state they were buried at Pacific View Memorial Park Feb. 7.
The Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles was originally listed as the place of burial, but another statement was sent out addressing a mistake on the death certificates, which corrected the place of burial as the Park View Memorial Park. The real park location is about a 10-minute drive from the Bryants’ home in Newport Coast, according to USA Today.
Approximately 400 people visited the gravesite this past weekend alone. Bunton said the “frenzy” began on Friday after the Daily Mail posted photos of the gravesite, which was identified as Kobe’s spot. Bunton said it was just a coincidence that some of the planted flowers in the private plot matched the Lakers team colors.
