Seems this pertinent detail is omitted from a story about a degenerate funeral home owner.
Here in my town we had a funeral director who was doing a lot worse to the corpses.
“...without their knowledge.”
That would seem to imply that they were still alive. However, maybe it is a criminal code thing - a loophole to get this guy.
“What - they are dead! I have to undress them so I can dress them in their nice clothing that the family gives me! And the photos, well, uhm, they are for skin tone - and um, how much to pad the dress.”
(”Hey Sarge, of course the guy is a pervert - but what can we do?”)