Parents, who live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, brought legal action against two funeral services, one established in Philadelphia and the other in Georgia, where their deceased son lived.
A few days after the death of their child, Lawrence and Abbey Butler, a couple living in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), made a macabre discovery in a box they received from funeral pumps. According to the American media NBC News, it contained the brain of Timothy Garlington, their deceased son.
The young man died on November 15, 2023 in the state of Georgia, where he lived. His parents went 5 days later to a funeral establishment located in Philadelphia, where the body of Timothy had been transferred. They were able to resume its personal effects, including a white box which was not included in the list of objects to recover. The couple left this box in the car for a few hours, but they started to give a strange smell and let a liquid escape. It was by returning to their vehicle that the butlers discovered the brain and brain material inside the box.
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Both parents launched legal action against two funeral directors. That established in Philadelphia, where the couple went, is called Nix & Nix Funeral Homes; The second, which is in Georgia and entitled Southern Cretations & Funerals, was responsible for transporting the body of the deceased to Pennsylvania.
Neglect
In their complaint, butler accuse the two funeral salons of negligence in their management of human remains, as well as having intentionally inflicted on them emotional distress. Questioned by journalists, Lawrence Butler declared on the verge of tears that “It was and it is always in [mon] heart. I got into my car and felt the smell of death […]. I had to get rid of this car. I couldn’t bear the idea that the remains are in this car ”.
One of the three lawyers of the Butler couple, L. Chris Stewart, said in comments made by CBS News that the latter received no excuse and explanation from the two funeral services. According to him, they “Imagine if the remains of their son, contained in the box, were buried with the body. They have absolutely no idea what happened ”. Lawyer talks about a “Devastating error made by the two funeral salons, which has not only made one family suffer once, but twice”.
The owner of the Philadelphia establishment dismisses any responsibility
For his part, the owner of the funeral home Nix & Nix said for NBC Philadelphia that his team did not know the contents of the box. According to him, everyone thought that it contained personal effects and no one therefore opened it to verify what was inside, since when another funeral lounge sends them leftovers, everything is supposed to be intact.
The owner also said that the Pennsylvania State Council had conducted an in -depth investigation and had innocent them of any reprehensible act, saying that his team was working with his lawyer to discuss the next steps.
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NBC Philadelphia contacted the Council of Directors of Funeral Pumps in the Pennsylvania State to learn more about a possible investigation into the case. A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania State Department said that he could not confirm or deny if a licensee was or had been the subject of an investigation.