A new lawsuit is accusing the son of James "Jim" Korn — the longtime groundskeeper of Kalispell's Conrad Memorial Cemetery who died in May after vanishing last year — of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his father and subjecting him to poor living conditions that may have caused his death.  

Korn and his son, Kevin Korn, disappeared in the spring of 2025, allegedly absconding with cemetery records needed to sell gravesites. The loss left the cemetery in limbo for half a year, and families looking to buy graves for loved ones were turned away because cemetery employees couldn't identify the sites already sold.  

The missing deed books and plot maps were eventually recovered from a distant relative's home outside Libby in October. The cemetery's new sexton, Jeff Epperly, has had to painstakingly digitize the pen and paper logging system Jim employed for decades.  Two computers that vanished at the same time as the records remain missing. 

Following Jim’s death at age 92 in a hospital in Murray, Utah on May 17, Kristy O. Wolf was appointed as personal representative of her father's estate.   

Attorneys Grant Snell and Kyle Glanzer with Crowley Fleck PLLP, who are representing Jim's estate, filed a complaint in Flathead County District Court on July 1 asking for a jury trial to determine whether Kevin mistreated his father and improperly took money from his investment accounts.  

Snell declined to comment for this article, citing the ongoing litigation. 

The complaint accuses Kevin of two counts of negligence and infliction of emotional distress for manipulating his father to gain access to and steal the records, isolating him from his family, removing him from his Kalispell home and forcing him to live in unsafe and unsanitary conditions, including sleeping in the passenger seat of a car filled with clutter.  

"Kevin's conduct created degrading, disorienting and isolating circumstances that deprived [Jim] of stability, safety and meaningful contact with his family," the court documents alleged. 

"The emotional distress suffered by [Jim] was so severe that no reasonable person in his position could be expected to endure it," the documents said. 

Kevin is also accused of two counts of conversion and unjust enrichment for manipulating his father into closing two investment accounts totaling $300,000 and transferring the money into a shared account.  

Kevin allegedly put the funds into the joint investment account to use for his personal benefit, thwarting Jim's estate plan as set forth in his will, according to court documents. He also allegedly continues to use Jim's 2002 Mercury Grand Marquis GS, which is now an asset of Jim's estate.  

The complaint is seeking damages and equitable relief, including restitution and attorney's fees.  

JIM OVERSAW cemetery operations for more than two decades before the winter of 2025, when dementia and other health issues began affecting his job performance, prompting the cemetery board to search for a successor.  

Jim's family and cemetery board members suspect Kevin of taking the records in retaliation for being passed over for the position. 

Kevin did not respond to a request for comment before press time.  

After allegedly stealing the records, the two skipped town, frequently bouncing between locations that made it tough for family, the cemetery and even private investigators to track them down. They'd sometimes stay in hotels but often slept in Jim's sedan, which was filled with clothes, food containers and boxes.  

"Kevin forced [Jim] to sleep in the car at restaurants and parking lots," according to the complaint.  

The two were often in Utah, where members of their extended family live and where Jim had to make various hospital visits due to his fragile health. 

Jim's family was unaware he was in intensive care until days before his death. Despite Kevin's effort to withhold familial information from medical staff, nurses tracked down his granddaughter, Michaela Preece, after finding the Inter Lake's previous reporting on his disappearance and Preece's effort to find the cemetery’s records.  

Upon arriving at the Utah hospital, Jim's family learned that he had been hospitalized repeatedly since December 2025, including for a hip fracture that required surgery, the court documents alleged. 

The complaint alleged that the poor living conditions Kevin subjected his father to further deteriorated his fragile health and either caused or contributed to his death. 

Conrad Cemetery Board President Jeff Ellingson said he has still been unable to get in contact with Kevin. The cemetery's criminal complaint, originally filed against Jim and Kevin, was later amended to name Jim's estate as a defendant. 

Ellingson said anyone with information as to Kevin Korn's whereabouts can call the cemetery office at 406-955-9808 or email the board at [email protected].  

Reporter Jack Underhill can be reached at 406-758-4407 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.

    James Korn, sexton at C.E. Conrad Memorial Cemetery, describes the stone on the exterior of the Conrad mausoleum on the cemetery's grounds in Kalispell in 2019. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)