California family sues funeral home after wrong body placed in uncle’s casket

A California family is suing a funeral home after it put the wrong man in the casket and dressed him in their loved one’s clothes, and workers even attempted to say the family was mistaken upon being confronted about the error.

Amentha Hunt says she arrived at Harrison-Ross Mortuary in Compton to prepare her uncle, 80-year-old Otis Adkinson, for burial when she noticed another man was inside the casket, according to KCAL.

“It shouldn’t have happened,” Hunt told the outlet. “I didn’t make arrangements there to see the wrong body.”

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“It was a guy laying there in my uncle’s suit, but it wasn’t my uncle,” she added. “I just kept looking at him. I am like, ‘He couldn’t have gotten that dark.'”

Hunt said she brought the issue to the attention of a mortuary worker, but the worker initially dismissed her concerns and claimed that it was her uncle inside the casket.

“That’s not my uncle,” Hunt said. “My uncle wouldn’t have gotten that dark … I showed a picture and she said, ‘Yeah, you’re right, give us one minute.'”

Hunt said she and her family waited three hours while the mortuary fixed the mix-up before they could bury her uncle. It is unclear whose body was in the casket dressed in her uncle’s suit.

“For them to come in and see the wrong corpse, and for the mortuary to deny 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, told KCAL. “They really need to improve their ways so they don’t do this to another family.”

The funeral home has denied the allegations and is preparing to file a cease-and-desist letter against Hunt.

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Hunt said she is still traumatized by seeing someone else in the suit she chose for her uncle. 

“It’s hurting,” she said. “To view the wrong corpse, I still can see that guy.”

Adkinson, a Memphis native, died on Feb. 28. He was described by his family as a “good ole country boy” who enjoyed fishing, barbecuing, dancing and watching the Los Angeles Lakers, according to his obituary.