Funeral Home Blunder: Grieving Mother Reburies Son After Wealthy Family’s Double-Booking Scandal

In a disheartening turn of events, an Oregon mother is compelled to exhume her deceased son’s remains due to a grave site mix-up caused by a funeral home’s oversight. A recent court decision has determined that the plot rightfully belongs to a prominent family who had purchased it years prior.

David Williams, speaking to CBS affiliate KOIN, expressed the anguish felt by his wife, Paula Tin Nyo, over the ordeal. Their son, Tyber Harrison, tragically lost his life in 2016 at the age of 20 after being hit by a truck. “The lack of humanity and the entitlement of wanting that piece of property when someone’s son is already buried there was something she couldn’t comprehend,” Williams said.

The remains of Harrison, along with treasured keepsakes like his baby teeth and hair, were interred in a memorial vault at the Portland site in 2021. However, in 2023, Skyline Memorial Gardens and Funeral Home initiated a lawsuit for the removal of these remains. This legal action was due to the site having been sold in 2019 to Martin and Jane Reser, whose son, Alex Reser, died of an overdose that same year. The Resers are part of a wealthy family associated with Reser’s Fine Foods, a billion-dollar enterprise based in Beaverton.

In early December, a Multnomah County judge confirmed that Skyline Memorial Gardens had indeed double-booked the cemetery plot. The verdict acknowledged the prior sale to the Reser family, granting them the rightful claim to the grave site.

Further complicating the matter, a Multnomah County civil jury on December 22 found Skyline negligent in the double booking but did not hold them accountable for causing “severe emotional distress” to Tin Nyo. The jury’s decision was influenced by the fact that Tin Nyo had violated the original agreement with the funeral home. The contract stipulated that only mementos, not human remains, could be added to the burial plot.

Darian Stanford, representing Tin Nyo, explained to The Oregonian that the breach occurred because the grieving mother had not thoroughly understood the fine print of the cemetery contract.

“In 25 years as a lawyer, I’d say this is as profoundly sad and disappointed as I’ve ever been,” Stanford told the local newspaper. “Paula and her family deserve better.”

According to The Oregonian, Alex Reser is interred near the burial site in a Reser family plot. The family reportedly wanted to install a bench in the area where Harrison’s remains were located, which they plan to do in the coming year.

Skyline admitted to the double booking and tried to make things right by offering a refund of the $16,000 that Tin Nyo paid. It also offered to rebury her son’s vault just a few feet away, but she never responded to the offer.

“They took accountability for that mistake, they apologized for it, they offered every remedy available for it under the law and the contract,” Skyline’s attorney, St.Clair, told the Multnomah County jury this month during closing arguments, according to the Oregonian. “We’re asking you to look at facts over feelings,” St. Clair said.

Tin Nyo and her lawyer argued that only a small amount of ashes were placed in her son’s vault as part of a watercolor painting she made with them. Still, having the remains disinterred would cause severe emotional distress, they said.

“They didn’t think she would suffer,” Williams told KOIN, crying. “I can’t imagine anyone thinking that she wouldn’t suffer. I’m sad for those people that think this way.”

Williams added, “Paula and her kids will have to sadly process and go through this again.”

The Resers reportedly did not want to be part of the legal drama but were ordered to join the litigation against their wishes, KOIN reports. Attempts by the station and Law&Crime to reach them for comment were unsuccessful.

Skyline began digging up Harrison’s vault on Tuesday and is expected to fully remove it in the coming weeks. It did not respond to Law&Crime’s requests for comment.