Funeral Operator Accused of Dumping Corpses in Woods

YAHOO via DRUDGE ^ | December 20 1:24 PM ET | Jane Sutton

[Gritty]

MIAMI (Reuters) - The world's largest funeral company was accused in a Florida lawsuit of digging up bodies and dumping them in the woods to make room for new burials, the plaintiffs' lawyers said on Thursday.

Distraught families filed a class action lawsuit on Wednesday in a state circuit court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, accusing Menorah Gardens and Funeral Chapels and its parent company, Service Corporation International, of desecrating graves and destroying human remains.

The lawsuit alleges that people were buried in the wrong graves at Menorah Gardens cemeteries in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach without their relatives' knowledge.

It said cemetery workers broke open some burial vaults and dumped the bodies in the woods, and crushed down other coffins to make room for new coffins on top of them.

It also alleged that body parts of different people were mixed together when the buried vaults were broken open and that people who bought side-by-side plots were actually buried head-to-toe or on top of each other.

The plaintiffs' lawyers said hundreds of bodies were mishandled and that there were some 700 people with claims against the two cemeteries.

``Not only did they suffer when their loved one died but they thought that person was at rest. Now they're suffering because they've heard that their family members may be missing or had been disinterred, had been violated,'' one of the plaintiffs' lawyers, Ervin Gonzalez, said at a news conference.

The lawyers showed a videotape they said was filmed in the woods behind the West Palm Beach cemetery, showing what appeared to be human bones scattered on the ground.

Myra Stone said her mother was buried in someone else's grave after that man's remains were tossed into the woods.

``It is just a nightmarish situation ... the fact that my mother's resting place is contaminated with someone else's remains is just inexcusable,'' Stone told a Miami television station.

The lawsuit was filed a day after Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth subpoenaed all of SCI's Florida burial records dating back to 1990 as part of an investigation into its business practices.

Service Corporation International, based in Houston, said the allegations in the lawsuit were disturbing and ``completely contrary to our policies and procedures as well as the excellent performance record we have established.''

The company said it was conducting an internal investigation ``with all possible diligence.''

``The performance of our professional duties is a sacred trust that we strive to fulfill by adhering to the highest possible standards and ethics,'' SCI said in a prepared statement.

The company and its affiliates operated 3,188 funeral service locations, 485 cemeteries and 78 crematoria as of Sept. 30, making it the world's largest funeral and cemetery company.

It operates mainly in North America, Australia, France and the United Kingdom and serves different denominations under a variety of names, including Campbell, Riverside, Forest Lawn and Menorah Gardens in the United States.

The company's shares were off more than 13 percent at $4.68 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.

The lawsuit asks that the court grant class action status and supervise a program to ensure that all of the dead the company buried are in the right graves. Several families have also filed individual lawsuits seeking unspecified damages.

[MeekOneGOP]

Cold Bump!

[gcruse]

Back to the top. Oh, wait, that's what started this.

[New Horizon]

The lawyers showed a videotape they said was filmed in the woods behind the West Palm Beach cemetery, showing what appeared to be human bones scattered on the ground.

If they owned a bunch of crematoriums, I think it is beyond stupid to just throw bodies into nearby woods. I smell BS...

[stlrocket]

Looks like a pretty low rent operation. Could this be a picture of them?

CASKETS-R-US?

[aomagrat]

I just saw a video of theis on Fox News. I didn't see any bones but there was a lot of moldy old coffins and vaults stacked in the woods.

[New Horizon]

To modify my previous statement (slightly)...

If they owned a bunch of crematoriums, I think it is beyond stupid to just throw bodies and coffins into nearby woods.

Vaults may be a little harder to hide...I'm still leaning towards BS...

[Ken H]

"... the allegations are disturbing and completely contrary to our policies and precedures"

Yep, under Company Policy section 2A it says-- "do not take bodies out of coffins and dump them in the woods."

[goodieD]

ewwwwwwwwww

[CAPPSMADNESS]

I remember the same thing happening in Cincinnati a few years back

[knarf]

OOOhhhh kay ... here goes ...

I used to be a cemetery salesman and for a short time (about 6 mo.) I worked for a cemetery that SCI had bought.

I was in this field for about 11 years, so I like to think I have a little bit of a grasp on the industry.

This article is totally bogus.

Cemeteries make tons of money in the pre-need field and there is a guaranteed paycheck in 'at need'. There are very few new cemeteries starting because the older ones either still have a lot of land or have gone to promoting cremation or (preferably) above ground entombment.

No cemetery is going to jeopordize (sp?) the gold mine of blue-haired Florida.

[Erasmus]

The aggrieved parties should file for a writ of Habeas Corpus.

[randog]

Do you think they'll lose their ISO9000 certification?

[Gritty]

The aggrieved parties should file for a writ of Habeas Corpus.

Sick.

[2nd amendment mama]

Looks like they're just trying to get rid of the evidence that these Al Gore voters were dead.....see, no body so they must be alive. ;-)

[sinkspur]

This article is totally bogus.

Glad to see a voice of sanity.

As another who has worked in the funeral industry (embalmer and funeral director), mortuaries are under the microscope like never before.

There are no ACTUAL CITATIONS of INDIVIDUAL CASES where a SPECIFIC, NAMED HUMAN BODY was dumped.

This videotape sounds fishy.

[2nd amendment mama]

Oh no......here's a list of stories about a funeral home in New Haven, CT that did exactly that.....stashed unburied bodies.........New Haven Register

Wade exec tells of finding five bodies

Randall Beach, Register Staff

September 11, 2001

NEW HAVEN — "Mr. Wade still has that body in the garage."

Monica Hammie-Richardson said she overheard these chilling words when her co-workers at the Wade Funeral Home were chatting during a funeral.

Hammie-Richardson, who is scheduled to testify today during a state hearing on the case, said she forced another Wade employee to show her the garage, which turned out to contain five unidentified, decomposing bodies.

Hammie-Richardson has not previously spoken about these events. Her version of what happened is included in a writ filed with state health investigators by her attorney, William Bloss.

State health officials have charged Hammie-Richardson, an administrator of the Dixwell Avenue funeral home and its president, Michael Wade, with failing to dispose of bodies "in a timely manner," operating a funeral home without a license and having unsanitary conditions.

Wade's attorney, Steven Jacobs, said Monday his client has reached an agreement in principle with the state Department of Public Health that Wade will surrender his funeral home and embalmer's license and enter into a cease and desist order. Jacobs said this should not be construed as an admission of guilt or liability.

In the separate criminal case, Wade was arrested Aug. 31 by New Haven police and charged with five counts of improper disposal of a body, as well as operating an unlicensed funeral home. The business is now closed.

Police raided the funeral home June 26 and carried out the five bodies.

Police detectives are continuing to investigate the case, but so far have been able to identify only one of the five bodies. They said that body was Fred Carmon, 76, of New Haven, who was stabbed to death in 1998.

According to the writ, the state is wrongly seeking to punish the person (Hammie-Richardson) who did nothing to create the violations and contacted authorities about three weeks after she learned about two of the bodies. She began working there in February.

The writ said Hammie-Richardson was at a funeral June 1 when she first learned about the gruesome situation in the garage adjacent to the funeral home.

"She overheard two people who might loosely be called 'staff members' say that 'Mr. Wade still has that body in the garage,' " the writ said.

After the funeral, the writ continued, Hammie-Richardson forced Joseph McCleese, a long-time funeral home employee, to unlock the garage.

The garage was "disheveled and disorganized almost beyond description," the writ said. "McCleese pointed out two bodies, which were not readily visible."

Hammie-Richardson immediately contacted her employer, Business Management Services Inc., a Florida corporation that contracts with funeral homes to "turn them around," the writ stated.

She did not call authorities right away, the writ said, because she was concerned Wade would refuse to cooperate and the bodies would never be identified.

The writ stated Wade indeed refused to help Hammie-Richardson with the identifications.

Hammie-Richardson then called Michael Lynch, the city's registrar of vital statistics, and Dr. Leonardo Fernandez, a state assistant medical examiner, for advice on the situation, the writ said.

When police came to the funeral home June 26, they found three more bodies in the garage.

All of the bodies were in the garage for years before Hammie-Richardson began working there, the writ said.

The problems at the funeral home "would not have been discovered had respondent (Hammie-Richardson) not brought it to light," the writ said.

She "could have quit her job and not said one word to anyone," the writ added. "Wade would still be in business and the bodies would still be in the garage today."

Bloss also filed an affidavit by Dale Fiore, superintendent of the Evergreen Cemetery, who said Hammie-Richardson called him in June to report there were two bodies in the garage.

Fiore said Hammie-Richardson was upset, scared and working hard to identify the bodies.

©New Haven Register 2001

[sinkspur]

I'd bet these were what we call in Texas "county cases"; that is, they were destitute or unclaimed, the funeral home filed for payment from the county, but never conducted funerals or buried these bodies.

Hey, there are crooks in all businesses. The article at the top of this thread, however, is an attempt to win the lottery by suing the corporate managment of this funeral home in Florida.

And, I still haven't seen specific charges.

[FITZ]

that these Al Gore voters were dead.

LOL!! Yes, if you bury democrats, it makes it too hard for them to get out and vote on election day.

[MeekOneGOP]

That's funny. I gotta put it here!: