An investigation has been launched into a funeral home in Houston, Texas after a customer was stabbed by a worker at the mortuary after filming the bodies. The altercation stemmed from the customer discovering bodies that were being kept in poor conditions at the Richardson Mortuary on Brookfield Drive last week.
Police received a report about a stabbing incident at the funeral home on Friday. According to authorities, the customer and his sister, Tamara McGruder, visited the funeral home after growing suspicious about the handling of their mother’s and uncle’s remains.
“I opened up the casket, and she had gnats in her face,” McGruder told Eyewitness News. The unsettling video her brother captured shows several bodies lying on tables, while others are wrapped in plastic or remain in caskets. Her brother, whose identity has not been disclosed, can be heard speaking about the conditions the bodies are stored in while showing the different rooms that had bodies.
“It’s bodies in caskets, boxes, plastic bags. It’s not A/C, it’s gnats. It smells like rotten blood,” she added, describing the repulsive conditions.
An unidentified funeral home worker reportedly confronted McGruder’s brother, demanding they leave the premises. The situation escalated when they refused to leave, leading the worker to stab her brother in the stomach.
Authorities described the wound as minor and said the victim drove to the hospital for treatment. The funeral home worker has not been arrested for the violent encounter, as he claimed self-defence, leading the district attorney to decline to pursue criminal charges.
The altercation resulted in an investigation that has led officers to find at least 10 bodies lying around on the ground and cardboard, according to authorities. The bodies were subsequently relocated to a different funeral home for proper storage.
When McGruder’s video was shared online, exposing the funeral home, customers started flocking to the business. One customer, Murita Brown, recognised a woman wearing a purple suit in the video as her grandmother, Bonnie Ashley. Brown said her grandmother was scheduled to be cremated on March 21 and that her ashes had not been released.
Over the last ten years, 14 complaints have been lodged against the facility, though it remains uncertain how many have been substantiated. Harris County Precinct 7 Constable Smokie Phillips, who knows the funeral home’s owner, disclosed that the owner suffered a heart attack and is now hospitalised
Phillips mentioned that the owner has agreed to allow the bodies to be transferred to other funeral homes with refrigerated rooms. Additionally, Police Captain Jim Dale said that the funeral home could be charged with abuse of a corpse depending on the outcome of the investigation. The funeral home has since closed down.
