MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. -- Workers at a southwest Miami-Dade County cemetery were opening a gravesite Wednesday morning in the hopes of finding the remains of Miguel Toledo, Local 10's Kellie Butler reported.

The court-ordered disinterment was taking place at the Dade South Memorial Park at 14200 SW 117th Ave.

In October, Toledo's family members learned his tomb was empty after his widow died.

Ondina Toledo was supposed to be laid to rest in the same plot as her husband. Cemetery officials said they believe when Miguel Toledo was buried in 1990, a worker accidentally buried him two plots over from where he should have been placed.

"We are deeply sorry that this error occurred, but this is an error that occurred 17 years ago with the previous owners," said Diana De Armas, funeral director for Service Corporation International, which owns the cemetery.

Toledo's family has sued the cemetery and SCI, the largest cemetery company in North America.

De Armas said the mistake happened two years before SCI purchased the property in 1992.

"When you buy the assets, you buy the liability as well," said Stewert Greenberg, an attorney for the Toledo family.

Early Wednesday morning, cemetery workers placed a tent over the gravesite that was being opened. They said the process of opening the tomb could take several hours.

Per the judge's orders, they have to take extra caution to not disturb the tomb of a man buried nearby.

The plot where officials believe Toledo is buried belongs to a Homestead family. They own three plots in a row, one of which is occupied by Jesse James Robinson Sr., who was buried in 2001.

The Robinson family was at the cemetery to observe the exhumation, but the Toledo family did not attend because Greenberg said it would be too painful for them.