A heartbroken family has alleged that a funeral home placed the wrong corpse in their uncle’s suit and casket, and then tried to convince them it was actually their loved one.
Amentha Hunt had traveled to Harrison-Ross Mortuary’s Crenshaw Blvd. location on April 7 to view her late uncle, Otis Adkinson, whose funeral arrangements had been made following his death in February.
But according to a complaint filed in court, Hunt was left stunned after finding a different man lying in the casket where her uncle should have been.
“It was a guy lying there in my uncle's suit, but it wasn't my uncle," she recalled to KCAL News. “I just kept looking at him… I was like, 'Wait a minute, he couldn't have gotten that dark.'"
Despite her immediate concerns, Hunt claims that a staff member at the mortuary insisted the man in the casket was, in fact, her uncle.
“She was like, ‘Oh, yes, that’s your uncle,’ and I said, ‘That’s not my uncle. My uncle wouldn’t have gotten that dark.’… I showed her a picture, and she said, ‘Yeah, you’re right. Give us one minute,’” Hunt said.
Only after showing the employee “living pictures” of her uncle did the staff realize their mistake, the complaint alleges.
The error reportedly took several hours to correct, transferring the wrong body to another facility, switching the suit, and dressing the correct body for viewing. By the time everything was fixed, Hunt said, “there was little to no time left for any viewing".
"It shouldn't have happened,” she told the outlet. “I didn't make arrangements there to see the wrong body.”
Alongside her aunt, Willie Mae Adkinson, Hunt has filed a lawsuit against the mortuary, alleging negligence, breach of contract, and both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
“The mystery and horrific facts surrounding the treatment of [Otis] has caused and continue to cause” the pair “immense mental suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, inconvenience, grief, anxiety, humiliation and emotional distress,” the complaint states.
Hunt says the incident has left her shaken: “It’s hurting. I still think about it,” she said. “That’s something that’s never going to go away, to view the wrong corpse. I still can see that guy.”
The lawsuit also notes that other family members at the viewing were “extremely distraught, leading to confusing, emotional distress” and arguments about the mistaken identity.
“For them to come in and see the wrong corpse, and for the mortuary to deny that it's the wrong corpse … we think it's really just a basic standard of care that they messed up on,” Hunt’s attorney, Elvis Tran, said. “They really need to improve their ways so they don't do this to another family.”
According to KCAL News, the funeral home has denied the claims and is reportedly preparing to send a cease-and-desist letter to Hunt.