A Detroit family says they discovered another woman’s body in their mother’s casket before her funeral, leaving them without her remains as the funeral home investigates the alleged mix-up.
The family of 61-year-old Kimberly Kaye Moore arrived at Hutchison Funeral Home on Friday (September 18) ahead of her scheduled viewing, according to WXYZ. Moore’s daughter, Bianca Robinson, said she went to the funeral home to prepare her mother for the service when she realized the body was not Moore.
Moore’s son, Byron Moore, said the woman had been prepared for the viewing in their mother’s clothing.
“It’s a lady in there with our mother’s dress on, and her hair on, and her makeup and it’s not our mother,” Byron Moore told WXYZ.
Robinson said she noticed that the woman did not have a distinguishing mark on her toe that she knew her mother had.
“When he unzipped the bag, I looked at the toe, and I was like, it’s not a mole on her toe, and I turned around, and I looked at him. I said, ‘This is not my mama, sir,’” she recalled.
Robinson said a funeral home employee then apologized and told her Moore may have already been cremated.
“And he said, ‘I’m so sorry. Your mom must have been cremated when she first got here because it was two ladies that were here that came in when your mom came,’” Robinson told WXYZ. She said the employee then told her, “We must’ve cremated her.”
The family was reportedly told that Moore’s toe tag may have gotten wet and fallen off, potentially leading to the bodies being mixed up.
Moore’s family had planned to hold her viewing and funeral before cremating her remains. Instead, they say they were left without her body or ashes.
“We don’t have a viewing. What do we have? We don’t even have her ashes!” Robinson said..
Detroit police responded to the funeral home to keep the peace as the family protested, WXYZ reported.
The funeral home has not confirmed that Moore was mistakenly cremated. Joseph Hutchison Jr., the funeral home’s vice president of operations, told WXYZ, “We’re investigating it.”
Hutchison Funeral Home said in a statement that it was “heartbroken and deeply sorry” for what Moore’s family experienced and had launched an internal review to determine what happened.
The family is still waiting for answers about Moore’s remains as the investigation continues.
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