Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
More than 50 bodies were found improperly stored and in various stages of decomposition at a Chicago funeral home on Thursday, prompting an investigation by police and action by Illinois state authorities. Officials said the remains were discovered at South Chicago Chapel, where one of the funeral directors has had her licence temporarily suspended.
The case has also drawn attention because the funeral home is linked to a couple who previously ran a crematory that was shut down after authorities found improperly stored bodies and hundreds of cremated remains that had not been returned to families. The latest discovery came months after residents in the area reported a “stench” coming from the funeral home.
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The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office said it was informed by state and local officials that bodies were being stored improperly at South Chicago Chapel, and investigators and forensic pathologists were sent there on Thursday. “Staff is assessing the conditions of the remains, searching for documentation regarding identification of the decedents as well as death certificates. This process could take several days to ensure proper disposition,” the office said in a statement. It added that families would be notified after the bodies were identified.
Police said on Friday that an earlier statement on the case was incorrect in saying that fire department officials had declared the scene a hazardous materials incident. No arrests have been announced, but city police said detectives are investigating. Messages seeking comment were left for the funeral home by phone and through its website on Friday.
Later on Friday, a small number of residents and people looking for information about their relatives gathered outside the funeral home. Latasha Johnson, 55, said her mother’s funeral had been held there on Thursday before authorities arrived and that she later learned about the discovery. She said officials told her her mother’s body would have to undergo an autopsy and that she would need to identify the remains in a day or two. “I’m discombobulated,” she said. “My heart is broken.” Blaise Von Bruchhaeuser, who described herself as a community advocate for the neighbourhood, said it was upsetting that complaints about a terrible odour had been made for months before the decomposing bodies were found.
State business records show funeral director Johanna Morgan incorporated South Chicago Chapel Inc. in 2022. Her funeral director’s licence was temporarily suspended on Wednesday. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation said the suspension followed “a finding that Respondent’s continued practice is a danger to the public safety, interest and welfare due to Respondent allowing multiple decedents to be kept in an unrefrigerated area with deplorable conditions including rodent infestation, causing decomposition and maggot infestation of the bodies.” State business records list Clark Morgan, who officials said is Johanna Morgan’s husband, as the funeral home’s president. The department said Clark Morgan’s funeral director licence was revoked in 2024 for practising with an expired licence and for “unprofessional conduct” that it did not specify.
State Comptroller Susana Mendoza said on Friday that Johanna and Clark Morgan had previously run a crematory in Chicago Heights, south of Chicago, whose licence was revoked last year after authorities found improperly stored bodies and hundreds of cremated remains that had not been returned to their families. “Horrified. Again,” Mendoza said in a statement. “The discovery of decomposing remains waiting to be laid to rest this week at a South Side funeral home is heartbreaking and an abomination. These are people – someone’s mother, father, sister, brother, child or friend, and they deserve better.”
Cook County court records list both Johanna and Clark Morgan as defendants in lawsuits linked to Heights Crematory. Messages were also left on Friday at phone numbers listed for the Morgans and for an attorney named in records as their business agent. Public records indicate the couple live in the Chicago suburb of Evergreen Park.
The case is the latest in a series of incidents involving mishandled remains in the past three years. Last month, police arrested two men in Pueblo, Colorado, over allegations that they mishandled at least two dozen decomposing bodies and other remains found behind a hidden door in a funeral home. Before that, 18 bodies in various stages of decomposition were found at a funeral home in Georgia in 2024. In 2023, nearly 200 decomposing bodies were found in a building in Colorado, while another 31 were discovered at a funeral home in Indiana. In Chicago, investigators are now working to identify the remains found at South Chicago Chapel and notify the affected families.
With PTI Inputs
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
