Grieving Relatives Find Stranger in Casket

Father was cremated against his wishes
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 23, 2013 1:53 AM CDT
Updated Oct 23, 2013 4:00 AM CDT
Grieving Relatives Find Stranger in Casket
Stock photo   (Shutterstock)

When Jerry Moon's relatives opened his casket during his funeral for a final look at their loved one, they were horrified to find the corpse of a stranger with a plastic bag over his head. The body of a 97-year-old man who died in hospice care had somehow been mixed up with Moon's body, dressed in Moon's clothes, and placed in the casket, KIRO reports. One of the 72-year-old Washington state man's sons says the funeral home told him his father had been cremated by accident—"and my father was terrified of being cremated." Hospice officials say they believe the mix-up happened after they sent the body to a mortuary.

"The only other thing I can say is we know where he really is," the son says. "We’re a believing family, and we believe he is in heaven." The relatives plan to have the cremated remains tested to make sure they are really Moon's, and they are considering legal action against the facilities involved. "If whoever is responsible doesn't feel the repercussions then maybe this will happen to someone else again," another son tells King 5 News. "I can tell you it put a permanent dent in me." (More funeral home stories.)

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