A Washington state family was left traumatized after the wrong body was discovered in a casket during a funeral service for Jerry Moon. According to King 5 News, Jerry's son, Brian Moon made the shocking discovery.
Jerry, 72, died at the Community Home Health & Hospice in Longview, Wash. earlier this month. His body was supposed to be transferred to Brown Mortuary where the family was going to hold a funeral and burial.
During the service the family opened the casket to discover a plastic bag over the body's head. When Brian removed the bag, the family immediately knew the corpse belonged to a complete stranger. He said the mortuary tried to convince the family that it was right body but Brian pointed out that body in the casket had hair and his father was bald at the time of his death.
Days after the funeral, the family was told they were given the wrong remains.
"I have this enormous pit in my stomach," Brian said. "If whoever is responsible doesn't feel the repercussions then maybe this will happen to someone else again. I can tell you it put a permanent dent in me."
Brian explained that his father had died after battling colon and bladder cancer and the mix-up has made the grieving process a lot harder for the family. To make matters worse, the family was informed that Jerry's body might have been accidentally cremated something Brian said his father was "terrified of."
The Moon family has hired an attorney and are considering taking legal actions against the facilities that handled Jerry's remains. According to Newser, the body discovered in the casket belonged to a 97-year-old man who also died in hospice care. The unidentified man was dressed in Moon's clothes and placed in the casket.
Hospice officials believe the mix-up happened after the bodies were transferred to the mortuary. According to the Centralia Chronicle, Daniel LaPlaunt, who manages the Brown Mortuary said the incident is being investigated but he believes his employees followed the correct protocol.
"We follow all state protocols for identification. Everything is spot on," he said. "We have to trust those people who we receive a body from. That is what is so frustrating, but we are taking complete responsibility."
