I recently read about a disturbing case coming out of Spartanburg, South Carolina.  In a story found on News 2 which you can see and read here, it appears that the Spartanburg County Coroner’s office was notified on February 8, 2018, that a “stored” human body was located at the First Family Funeral Home.

According to the story, coroner’s office investigators then discovered that an unrecognizable body had been stored in a room at the funeral home.  A forensic investigation revealed that the body was that of Mary Alice Pitts Moore, age 63.  Ms. Moore reportedly passed away in March 2015 of natural causes.  The March 2015 death means that the body of Ms. Moore had been “stored” at the funeral facility for almost three years.

According to the coroner the body was found in a closed room and had been embalmed but had not been refrigerated.  The coroner, Rusty Clevenger, commented that this is still an active investigation and the State Attorney General has been notified.

Moore’s family has also been notified and said that Ms. Moore was supposed to have been cremated in 2015.

Funeral Director Daily take:  These type of stories are really unnerving to me.  I operated a funeral home for about 35 years with the best interest of the client family’s always utmost in my mind.  I wasn’t always perfect but I worked real hard to make sure that we abided by the laws and in the best interest of the families we were serving.

Since I’ve started writing Funeral Director Daily, I look every day for articles that would be of interest to funeral home owners, funeral home directors, and those involved in furnishing the funeral homes what they need to complete their tasks for the families that they serve.

It seems that I come across an article every day that points out some type of action by a funeral home owner or employee that is detrimental to the industry as a whole.  Of late there has been articles of illegally selling body parts, of insurance agents entrusted with pre-need funds absconding with them, and of bodies being absolutely lost while in a funeral director’s care.

Over my years we worked hard to prove the “professionalism” of the industry.   It’s getting harder and harder to do that when we keep injuring ourselves with these types of stories.