Disrespecting the Dead

Nancy was a new forensic pathologist. She was working toward the completion of her internship. Her very first assignment was the Eternal Glory Funeral home,  Eden Florida. 

Because she was so new to the environment she questioned everything. Among her questions were What do I know? What is it that I don't know ?.How do I prove what I know or think I know?

Her first day challenges were complicated by a personal challenge. She was two months pregnant and separated from her husband. He had to remain at his teaching position until the end of the summer semester.

The funeral home was entrusted with the burial of Eden's  poor and vagrant dead.

The Eternal Glory case began with a surprise inspection from the State. When state inspectors arrived unannounced they expected to find nothing more serious than improperly maintained equipment or perhaps a dirty preparation room.

Routinely this inspection was done every two years.  A surprise inspection catches everyone and everything at its worst. This surprise inspection was promoted by complaints from surviving family members. One complaint said maggots were seen inside the casket with their loved one.

The first indication there might be a problem was the recovery of two decomposing bodies inside a hearse parked outside the Eternal Glory Chapel. These bodies alerted the state attorneys and local authorities of possible fraud and neglect of human remains.

STATE EXAMINES 293 COMPLAINTS and Dozens of Decaying Bodies Found In Funeral Home, A Mortuary Tangled in the Macabre  Nancy was becoming involved  In a scandal that has rocked Florida's funeral industry. The funeral home owner allegedly sold hundreds of bodies without families’ consent.

She had been apprised of the developing scandal awaiting her when she reached Eden and the Eternal Glory Funeral Home Scandal. 

 Upon arrival Nancy quickly learned her co_workers were working eighteen to twenty four hour shifts. She was apprised of her situation.she  was becoming involved  In a scandal that had rocked  Florida's funeral industry and was continuing to rock the industry.

 The co_ workers looked at the new Medical examiner and her as being the cavalry.The ongoing investigation demanded they both stay at their post. The conditions were " Every hand on deck for the duration.

When the medical examiner's office was called into action Nancy was thrust into action right up to her neck.supposedly,  There were abandoned bodies decomposing in the hot Sun

 Nancy understood her job well enough to know the dead bodies have to be refrigerated or embalmed.  Dead bodies have to be prepared for burial or cremation. She would assist the Medical Examiners investigators by observation, by receding what she saw on the scene. 

Personally, she learned she hated working with decomposing courses. These bodies were bloated, they were  green and black and slippery. They were slimy and they smelled. she, perhaps, was being a primadonna. the stench that was  permenating her hair.it stuck to her hair gel, her cologne, and her clothes.she smelled cotton.

These unfortunate corpses had been decomposing for some time. Nancy was physically sick. She fainted into the rear entrance of the hearse. No comment was made but, she had fallen face down on a body.

the realization crept slowly into her mind that her nightmare had come true,  creating nausea, disgust, and additional fainting. The smell wouldn't bother the co_workers in the decomposition room.They work with decaying bodies routinely.

 Back Inside the funeral home investigators uncovered 48 decomposing bodies concealed in a closet behind a fake wall. Several bodies had been entombed there for decades. Sacked like cords of firewood.  Men, women,children, infants, even a fetus were stacked, crushed beneath the bodies placed on them.and liquefied and other remains were skeletonized. 

Nancy gagged and swooned as she assisted the others in placing bodies into fresh  body bags and placing the bags on stretchers, gurney's . 

Someone suggested she place Vicks Vapor Rub beneath her nose. Frequently a co_ worker placed the ointment beneath her nose.for her.She was an educated mind and skilled hands no one wanted to lose her to an aversion to the smell. The sensitivity would pass this constituted  battle conditions and truly it was " all hands on deck for the duration.

The most unsettling encounter was a morbidly obese woman that someone had laid out on a food preparation table inches from the kitchenette where she imagined food was or had been prepared and eaten. How could this situation be real ? Nancy didn't want to imagine anything this surreal. But, it was there displayed in all its horror and disrespectfulness.

As the Medical examiners investigators saddled up and prepared to assist the various  teams sent to Paupers field, Hollow Swamp Cemetery, to exhume everybody that Frankinstein's Eternal Glory Funeral home had buried. 

As the caskets were exhumed and transported to the Morgue for inspection.Nancy imagined what remains were inside.

 Opening the caskets frequently revealed four  bodies in one casket. It was ghoulish. And frequently more than she imagined.The most unexpected surprise was rats' nests. There wasn't any question at some point, postmortem, rodents were living inside the body.Nancy would have never imagined rats.

The extra bodies had to be examined and cross referenced for proper identification and proper burial. The improperly stored bodies had to be identified and cross referenced with payment records the investigation now was fraud. How many mismanaged bodies had the  Frankinstein'sbeen paid to prepare? How much of the $ 459.00 dollars had the Frankenstein's Pocketed ? .44 cases of neglect of a corpse and misappropriation of state funds was sent to the State Attorney General. 

As her first eighteen hours drew to a close Nancy asked herself, ' what do I know ? A lot more than I did eighteen hours ago. She asked a second time ' what do I not know ? The answer was a world of things. Nancy asked, ' Can I prove what I now know ?  Not well enough to assist the state in obtaining a conviction.

 The Funeral director would walk away to do this again. Florida has no set statues for care of a deceased person. The director was sentenced to 1 year and a day for fraud. He served 7 days.He offended again the same state and funeral.