The State Law Enforcement Division confirmed Monday that it is conducting a criminal investigation in Georgetown County into missing gravestones - and possibly missing bodies - at Campfield Plantation, an older cemetery just off U.S. 701, said SLED spokeswoman Bobbi Schlatterer.

Sen. Yancey McGill, D-Kingstree, also said he has been contacted about the possibility of meeting with members of a rural community after complaints were raised about possible graveyard tampering on Choppee Road.

The meeting, which could include descendants of people buried in the cemetery, could take place early next week, McGill said.

Complaints about the graveyard have also made their way to officials at Ocean and Coastal Resource Management.

State archaeologist Jonathan Leader said in April that he found signs that markers in the graveyard were moved.

Leader visited the remote location and talked firsthand with descendants of the people buried in the former Campfield Cemetery.

Only one grave in a small, fenced-in area appeared to be authentic, Leader said after his preliminary investigation.

Some of the other markers are pointed in the wrong direction, placed too close together, and do not appear to be in the original location, and the sandy soil looks like it has been pushed into the area, Leader said after surveying the area.

Community members Zack Grate and Jackie Tucker said this week they have plans to attend the community meeting because they have relatives buried at Campfield Cemetery.

Tucker's great-great-grandfather, grandfather, grandmother, aunt and father are buried at Campfield Cemetery, but she has been locked out of the cemetery for several decades, she said.

She said she was told not to return and that "No trespassing" signs were posted after her father's funeral.

"We would ride by and look, but that's all we could do," Tucker said.

Tucker said she is glad that SLED and the senator are taking action.

"Maybe now we can get started and get this settled," she said.

"It has been going on for four years, and we want something to happen. This has to end somehow."

Leader was scheduled to return to the graveyard this past August with ground-penetrating radar to determine whether bodies are located nearby, Tucker said.

Leader would not comment about the investigation when contacted this week.

"We are not going to give up," Tucker said.