Cannot delete specific files.

I am unable to delete certain files, but I can delete others. Finder says "The operation cannot be completed because the item...is in use." I have tried:
*Alt+Empty Trash
*Secure delete
*Empty trash from the Terminal
*Repair permissions
*Verify disk
*Various utilities (Trash it!, OnyX, etc.)
*Restart
*Closed all applications
I have noticed that if I try to delete from the Terminal it says "rm: /Users/mymacrules/.Trash/Cannot Delete/nl.lproj: Directory not empty". I also tried to move one file that would not delete from the trash, this file disappears when I click on it, but is there after restart. As long as that specific file is on the desktop it also makes another folder disappear. Even though I can't see it in Finder I can see it with the "ls" command. Any ideas?

mymacrules wrote:
I have noticed that if I try to delete from the Terminal it says "rm: /Users/mymacrules/.Trash/Cannot Delete/nl.lproj: Directory not empty".
Right. The rm command by default will not delete nonempty directories. To force it to, use the recursive flag:
rm -r /Users/mymacrules/.Trash/Cannot Delete/nl.lproj
But keep in mind that I'm just a Unix person...people like Joshz who know MacOS better than me may know good reasons to not use the Terminal to try to empty the trash.

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