The co-owner of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery is opening up about Anton Yelchin’s parents and their dedication to their late son.
“I’ve never encountered a vigil like theirs,” Tyler Cassity, who co-owns the Hollywood Forever Cemetery alongside Yogu Kanthiah, told Variety of the late actor’s parents in an interview published on Friday, June 13.
“Celebrity in this cemetery in particular happens often when someone dies young,” he explained, before sharing that the late Star Trek actor’s parents continue to visit his gravesite “nearly every day.”
According to Cassity, Yelchin’s parents erected an elaborate statue in honor of their son, who died in 2016. The cost, according to the outlet, starts at $95,000. According to Cassity, Yelchin’s parents decided to lay their son to rest at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery when other local memorial parks “wouldn’t allow a life-size bronze figure of the young actor” to be established in his honor.
Yelchin — who was born in Russia and brought to the United States as an infant after his parents were classified as refugees by the U.S. State Department — was 27 years old when he died in June 2016 after his jeep 2015 Grand Cherokee rolled onto him at his home in Los Angeles.
The actor was reportedly on his way to meet friends for a rehearsal prior to his death. When he did not show up, his friends started to worry about him. They drove by his home where they discovered his body, which had been crushed between the vehicle and the iron security gate that surrounded the actor’s L.A. home.
Shortly after the actor’s death, assistant chief coroner Ed Winter told US Weekly that Yelchin died of blunt traumatic asphyxia. “Due to his injuries he most likely died within a minute or so,” a representative for the coroner told TheWrap on June 21.
At the time of the actor’s death, the vehicle was under recall for problems related with the gear shifter. As reported by CBS News at the time, 1.1 million of 2014 and 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokees were recalled because the new electronic gearshift, or e-shift, made it difficult to put the car into park, drive or reverse.
“FCA US extends its deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Mr. Yelchin,” a representative for Jeep told TheWrap after the actor’s death. “The company will be conducting a thorough investigation of this tragic incident. It is premature to speculate on its cause at this time.”
Yelchin’s parents subsequently sued the vehicle’s manufacturer Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCU). In 2018, the family settled the wrongful death lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles superior court, for an undisclosed amount.
