Annette Branche was a top-earning seller of plots in a Maryland cemetery when the company she worked for was bought by an out-of-state corporation that managed cemeteries all over the US. She was soon to start a new career as a whistleblower and champion of consumer's rights.

Under the new management, Branche was told to over-charge clients—which she refused to do. Her income dropped from $58,000 a year to $8,000.

Branche did some digging and found dishonest charges and unsettling discrepancies between the goods and services she'd sold clients and what they'd actually received. Cheap plastic plot-liners were used instead of expensive vaults families had paid for. Plots paid for were not where loved ones were actually buried. Bereaved families' complaints were ignored.

Branche says, "I sold families prime locations at top dollar, and their loved ones were buried in the swamps."

She sued the company, which tried to silence her with a $10,000 settlement. She refused and set out to end the corruption. She turned to the black clergy for support, but ministers at local churches ignored her—she found that they were getting kickbacks from the cemetery. Local politicians weren't interested in helping either.

"Since I've been involved in this fight, I have lost my home due to foreclosure," Branche says. "I've lost my car. Some of my possessions were stolen during my eviction and I have been unable to get another job in the cemetery business."

When a hit man shot out her car window, Branche went into hiding in another state. But she kept working on the problem. She founded the non-profit WACUP (War Against Cemeteries' Unfair Practices) to push for federal regulation of the cemetery business. The FBI began an investigation and Maryland's Attorney General filed a lawsuit against corrupt cemetery operators.

Branche has been through a lot, but her main concern is her former clients. "I still feel bad that I sold quality burial goods and services only to have the cemetery operators deliver inferior goods and services to my clients," she says. "I must live with this the rest of my life."

UPDATE: Annette Branche continues to offer support through WACUP, using her personal phone to assist people who call about problems with cemeteries. She's written a book called WACUP and says her efforts to publicize the need to monitor cemetery management have inspired greater monitoring of cemeteries all over the country. Her book details the 49 challenges people face when dealing with the death of a loved one. "I have a lot of knowledge that can help people," Branche said. "And I can read a cemetery the way other people read a book." Living now in Harrisburg, PA, Branche also devotes time to teaching young children to read. Her group is called Uptown Neighbors United.