The grave of Edward Bryant Phillips was empty for several hours Monday after authorities exhumed his body for a forensic autopsy. As the sun started to break over the horizon early Monday, a group of men set to work digging a grave at Oakland Cemetery.

Ordinarily, the sight wouldn’t have received a second look by passers-by. But on Monday morning, there was nothing ordinary about the task at hand or the people performing the work.

With great pains not to draw attention, Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler had the remains of Edward Bryant Phillips exhumed so he could take a new look at Phillips’ June 2, 1999, death.

The exhumation comes directly in the wake of the recent arrest of Julia Bright Phillips, who is accused in York County of murder in connection with the Feb. 4 strangulation death of her boyfriend, prominent York attorney Melvin Roberts.

Julia Phillips, who is Bryant Phillips’ widow, had dated Roberts for the past 10 years. She posted $75,000 bond on the murder charge last Thursday, as well as $5,000 bond on an unrelated breach of trust charge in Gaffney on Saturday, and currently is subject to house arrest at the Overbrook Drive home she shared with her former husband.

A major question has since arisen, however, about whether Julia Phillips will be allowed to stay in that Overbrook Drive home.

The daughters of Bryant Phillips, who serve as trustees of the Edward Bryant Phillips Trust, have moved in Cherokee County Probate Court to have Julia Phillips and her son, Hunter Stephens, removed from their father’s home.

According to court documents, Bryant Phillips’ last will and testament allowed Julia Phillips to remain in the Overbrook Drive home until she died or re-married, while the Trust paid various household expenses.

With the murder charge hanging over Julia Phillips’ head, Bryant Phillips daughters are arguing “continuation of the Trust would not be in accordance with (Bryant Phillips’) probable intention.”

Cherokee County Probate Court Judge Josh Queen is expected to preside over a hearing Wednesday at 10 a.m. during which time he will consider requests for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against Julia Phillips.

If granted, the orders would prevent Phillips from damaging or selling any property within the home and prevent her, and her son, from trespassing upon the property.

Authorities aren’t saying what they were looking for in exhuming Bryant Phillips, who died at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

Fowler confirmed that the cause of death listed by officials in Atlanta was congestive heart failure.

“In mid May of this year, I was contacted by the family of Edward Bryant Phillips regarding concerns over his manner of death on June 2, 1999,” Fowler said. “A subsequent investigation was begun by my office that raised the level of suspicion which prompted me to order the exhumation of Mr. Phillips’ body on Monday morning.”

Fowler said he transported Phillips’ body to Newberry for a forensic autopsy and toxicology samples were taken to Columbia for testing.

Fowler could offer no results from Monday’s autopsy, saying he was awaiting test results, and he could not say what exactly he was looking for or what Bryant Phillips’ family members had told him.

Bryant Phillips was reinterred at Oakland Cemetery on Monday afternoon.

As coroner, Fowler said that he had authority to authorize exhumation and that no court order was needed.

Gaffney Police Chief Rick Turner confirmed his office’s presence at the exhumation but noted, “We were there in a support role.”

Turner was there, he confirmed, along with other plainclothed detectives.

“At this time, we have no open investigation,” he said. “We’re waiting on the outcome of the

coroner’s) examination as to any future or further opening of cases or investigations.”