TWO funeral homes have been accused of packaging a dead man’s brain in an unmarked box and giving it to his grieving parents without explanation.
Abbey and Lawrence Butler assert they were completely unaware of the box’s contents until it had been sitting in their car for several days, emitting a foul odor akin to “death.”
Alarming details surrounding the situation were uncovered through a lawsuit the couple filed against Southern Cremations & Funerals at Cheatham Hill in Georgia, along with Nix & Nix Funeral Home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The lawsuit claims their 56-year-old son, Timothy Garlington’s remains, were moved from Georgia to be laid to rest in a cemetery located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
A week post-funeral and interment, the mourning parents visited Nix & Nix to collect their son’s personal effects, as detailed in the lawsuit submitted Thursday, according to USA Today.
The funeral director gave them the belongings, including an unmarked cardboard box that had a smaller red box inside, the couple alleged.
Abbey started to open the box without knowing what was inside, but never lifted the lid.
She claims that there was no label indicating that there was brain matter inside, which should be considered biohazardous.
The couple put the box in the back of their car and left it for days before noticing it began to “smell and leak fluids.”
Lawrence finally brought the box inside their home and was horrified by what was inside, the lawsuit states.
They claim that they learned it was their son’s brain after complaining to Southern Cremations.
After consulting with their lawyer L Chris Stewart, the couple decided to return the disgusting package to Nix & Nix.
They have no clue whether the remains were buried with their son’s body.
In a news conference Thursday, Stewart said, “How devastating of a mistake that was made by both funeral homes.
“Not only making a family suffer once, but suffer twice, unknowingly having their son’s human remains in their car.”
The U.S. Sun has reached out to both funeral homes for comments on the lawsuit.
VETERAN REMEMBERED
Garlington served in the US Marines before his death. It’s unclear how he died.
His father told reporters that he will never forget the stench that filled his car after visiting the home.
“It was and it is still in my heart that I got in my car and I smelled death,” the mourning father said.
“We just pray that this doesn’t ever happen to anyone else again.”
The funeral homes have been accused of mishandling human remains, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligence.
The couple has claimed that neither party has apologized to them since the alleged mixup.
