Family’s heartache after shocking discovery in funeral home
A family is searching for answers after the body of 63-year-old Mary Alice Pitts was found in a funeral home three years after her death, and not cremated as they had requested.
The body of Ms Pitts, who died of natural causes in March 2015, was found in a store room after the Family First funeral home in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, failed to cremate her. According to Coroner Rusty Clevenger, the woman’s body was so badly decomposed that it was “unrecognisable”.
The body was reportedly found with scent balms around it to mask the smell, and a former employee, who found the body in an unrefrigerated room and asked her colleagues about it, says she was repeatedly told, “Don’t worry about it.”
“[The family] are understandably upset at the revelation since her final disposition was to be cremated in 2015,” Clevenger said.
“I will be exploring legal means to have her family’s wishes carried out for final rest. I have been contacted by officials and the State Attorney-General about this case and I will be providing any info my office may have.”
An investigation into the incident has been launched.