Latest news with #funeralhomes
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Parents Suing Funeral Homes They Claim Gave Them Late Son's Brain in Unmarked Box: 'We Pray This Doesn't Happen to Anyone Else'
The couple's lawyer called the discovery a "horrific tragedy" A couple in Pennsylvania is suing two funeral homes because they claim they were given their dead son's brain in an unlabeled box. On Thursday, July 24, Lawrence and Abbey Butler were joined by their lawyers to announce a lawsuit against the two funeral homes following the 2023 death of their son, Timothy Garlington. The pair is taking action against both Nix & Nix Funeral Homes in Philadelphia and Southern Cremations & Funerals in Georgia over what L. Chris Stewart, the couple's attorney, called a "horrific tragedy," per press conference footage shared by Philadelphia NBC affiliate WCAU. As the family and their lawyer revealed while speaking with local media, and as reported by the Associated Press, the two funeral homes are accused of giving the parents their late son's remains in an unmarked box. They claim the body part began to smell, leak into their car and even made contact with the father's hands. "It was, and it is still in my heart, that I got in my car and I smelled death," Lawrence told reporters emotionally as his wife stood beside him. "We just pray that this doesn't happen to anyone else again. I had to get rid of that car. I just couldn't stand the idea that the remains [were] in that car." The Butlers' son — a 56-year-old Marine veteran working as a financial aid director — died in Georgia in 2023, according to Stewart, before Southern Cremations shipped his body to Philadelphia's Nix & Nix. The second funeral home was "responsible for providing personal items" to the Butlers, having placed them on a table alongside the "unmarked box," he said. "The items were given to the family, and they were taken home," Stewart continued. "For them only to discover days later that there were remains in that white, unmarked box. How devastating of a mistake that was made by both funeral homes." As the lawyer alleged, the parents discovered they had possession of their son's remains when their car "started to smell," as the box began "leaking in their vehicle." He added that there is "no reason or justification" for Garlington's brain to have been placed "in a separate box." The discovery came days after Garlington's mother unsuccessfully attempted to open the container in front of the funeral home staff, according to Stewart. "To find out that it was his remains was just overwhelming," Lawrence added, speaking to reporters. "Even to this day, that they could do that. You rely on their professionalism to avoid this kind of situation. And that we would have to go through that," he continued. "Tim was the baby boy and was a good young man. This would just double up on the fact that we lost him to this day." Nix & Nix and Southern Cremations did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment on Saturday, July 26. ASV Partners, the company that owns Southern Cremations, declined to comment when contacted by the AP. According to the outlet, the Southern Cremations location is at Cheatham Hill. Speaking to the AP, Julian Nix of Nix & Nix said 'it was definitely not our fault' and claimed the first funeral home sent the parents the unlabeled box. The owner alleged they got in contact with authorities after learning of the remains in the box, and claimed that a state board overseeing funeral homes investigated the matter and found them not responsible. Per the AP, documents proving that have not been made available. Stewart said the family still does not know if their son's brain was buried with him, per the AP, which added that the family is seeking both answers and compensation. Lawrence told reporters that he hopes the funeral homes "learn a lesson" from the ordeal. "You really depend on them to get you through," he said. "And then to find out that they did not take the care to at least know what they were sending to us. ... We just trusted them to do what we thought should be done correctly. This was not done correctly at all." Read the original article on People
The Independent
5 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Marine veteran's brain returned by funeral home in an unmarked and leaking box, lawsuit claims
A couple is suing two funeral homes after their veteran son's brain was returned in an unmarked cardboard box that was leaking 'biohazardous liquid,' a lawsuit alleges. Lawrence and Abbey Butler are suing Nix & Nix Funeral Homes in Pennsylvania and Southern Cremations & Funeral in Georgia for the 'mishandling' of the remains of their son Timothy Garlington, a Marine veteran who died in November 2023. That month, the couple hired Southern Cremations & Funerals to transport their son's remains to Nix & Nix Funeral Home in Philadelphia. A week later, Lawrence Butler picked up a 'white, unmarked cardboard box' they thought contained his personal belongings, the filing states. The box began to smell and leak fluids in his car. When the couple tried to remove the box, 'biohazardous liquid spilled' onto them, the lawsuit alleges. They reached out to the funeral homes to learn that the box contained their late son's brain. "The family has been destroyed twice," their lawyer, L. Chris Stewart, told Fox 5. The couple says they suffered 'serious mental and emotional distress' as a result of the funeral homes' mishandling of their son's remains, the suit stated. It called the defendants' conduct 'extreme and outrageous.' They've accused the defendants of negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other claims, for an unspecified amount in damages. 'It was, and it is still, in my heart that I got in my car and I smelled death,' Lawrence Butler told the Associated Press. 'I had to get rid of that car,' he added. 'I just couldn't stand the idea that the remains were in that car.' Stewart told the AP that after speaking to several other funeral homes, he learned the brain is not typically 'separated from [the] body in that fashion and shipped in that fashion.' In the circumstances that the body parts are separated, they are labeled as a biohazard. 'There's no excuse, there is zero excuse for this type of error to happen. For the Georgia funeral home, Southern Cremations, to ship unmarked, bio-hazardous material. For the funeral home here in Philadelphia to hand the parents an unmarked box, not examined, not on a list of the inventory that was the personal items, to not check it,' Stewart told the AP. 'They have not received a single apology to this day from any funeral home.' The owner of Nix & Nix Funeral Homes said that his team didn't know that the box contained brain matter and noted that the state board did a thorough investigation and cleared them of wrongdoing. "Any body parts should be in the body. I don't understand why they would send his brains in a box, a regular box," Julian Nix, the owner of Nix and Nix Funeral Home, told Fox 5. "We immediately reported it to the state board and the medical examiner for inspection," Nix told the outlet. "When the state board investigated, they said that we did everything correct."
Washington Post
6 days ago
- Washington Post
Parents were given their deceased son's brain by funeral homes, lawsuit alleges
Two funeral homes allegedly gave grieving parents their deceased son's brain in a box, which began to smell, leaked into their car and got on the father's hands when he moved it, according to an updated lawsuit filed this week. The father, Lawrence Butler, said the discovery was overwhelming at a news conference Thursday, leaving a horrific memory that mars the other memories of a 'good young man,' their son, Timothy Garlington.
CNN
05-07-2025
- CNN
‘We want an answer': They fear their relatives are among the hundreds of bodies piled up at a crematorium in Mexico
Families are demanding answers after authorities in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, discovered that 383 bodies had been stored in a crematorium for months and years after the people had died. Norma Guardado Meraz was one of many locals who visited the Chihuahua Prosecutor's Office this week to get more information about its investigation into the discovery, fearing that among the bodies are those of their relatives. The discovery was made on June 26 after several municipal police officers found a hearse containing two bodies and other corpses piled up in a room in the building's courtyard. Prosecutor César Jáuregui said the pile of bodies had accumulated since 2020, suggesting that the Plenitud crematorium had failed to perform services it had been subcontracted for by six funeral homes. 'We want an answer so we can be satisfied and for the authorities to help us see what's going on, so we can be sure we have the right person in our urn,' Guardado Meraz told CNN. She and her family want clarity about the fate of the remains of her mother, María Nieves Meraz, who died three years ago and was mourned at one of the funeral homes that had subcontracted the crematorium. Another resident, Javier Ramírez, went to the prosecutor's office Wednesday to determine if the remains he had received actually belong to his father, who died two months ago and whose wake was held at one of the other funeral homes. CNN is trying to contact the managers of the funeral homes for comment. 'They just tell us they'll let us know when they have information, but they don't know how long it will take. In other words, we just have to wait and see what they tell us,' Ramírez told CNN. CNN has asked the prosecutor's office how many complaints it has received in this case and is awaiting a response. The office said Tuesday that of the 383 bodies found, 218 were men, 149 were women and the gender of 16 could not been identified. Authorities have detained the owner of the company that operated the crematorium and his assistant in connection with the discovery. They were scheduled to appear in court on Friday. CNN is trying to contact their legal defense team to find out how they will respond to the charges against them. As the case moves forward, the prosecutor's office is promising a thorough investigation and says it encourages more people to come forward and demand answers. CNN's Michael Rios contributed to this story.
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Yahoo
‘We want an answer': They fear their relatives are among the hundreds of bodies piled up at a crematorium in Mexico
Families are demanding answers after authorities in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, discovered that 383 bodies had been stored in a crematorium for months and years after the people had died. Norma Guardado Meraz was one of many locals who visited the Chihuahua Prosecutor's Office this week to get more information about its investigation into the discovery, fearing that among the bodies are those of their relatives. The discovery was made on June 26 after several municipal police officers found a hearse containing two bodies and other corpses piled up in a room in the building's courtyard. Prosecutor César Jáuregui said the pile of bodies had accumulated since 2020, suggesting that the Plenitud crematorium had failed to perform services it had been subcontracted for by six funeral homes. 'We want an answer so we can be satisfied and for the authorities to help us see what's going on, so we can be sure we have the right person in our urn,' Guardado Meraz told CNN. She and her family want clarity about the fate of the remains of her mother, María Nieves Meraz, who died three years ago and was mourned at one of the funeral homes that had subcontracted the crematorium. Another resident, Javier Ramírez, went to the prosecutor's office Wednesday to determine if the remains he had received actually belong to his father, who died two months ago and whose wake was held at one of the other funeral homes. CNN is trying to contact the managers of the funeral homes for comment. 'They just tell us they'll let us know when they have information, but they don't know how long it will take. In other words, we just have to wait and see what they tell us,' Ramírez told CNN. CNN has asked the prosecutor's office how many complaints it has received in this case and is awaiting a response. The office said Tuesday that of the 383 bodies found, 218 were men, 149 were women and the gender of 16 could not been identified. Authorities have detained the owner of the company that operated the crematorium and his assistant in connection with the discovery. They were scheduled to appear in court on Friday. CNN is trying to contact their legal defense team to find out how they will respond to the charges against them. As the case moves forward, the prosecutor's office is promising a thorough investigation and says it encourages more people to come forward and demand answers. CNN's Michael Rios contributed to this story.
