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Families seek FBI investigation into Chicago funeral home after dozens of bodies found
Loved ones are demanding a federal investigation after dozens of bodies were discovered allegedly improperly stored at a Chicago funeral home.
CHICAGO - Families whose loved ones were among dozens of bodies discovered at a Chicago funeral home are demanding answers and a federal investigation.
What we know:
Family members and activists plan to gather outside the FBI’s Chicago field office Friday to call for an investigation into the owners of South Chicago Chapel, Clark and Johanna Morgan.
A licensing investigation on Aug. 7 uncovered 56 bodies allegedly improperly stored in various states of decomposition at the funeral home.
The group also wants investigators to examine whether communication or enforcement failures involving several government agencies — including the Chicago Police Department, the Illinois Comptroller's Office, the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office, and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation — allowed the Morgans to allegedly mishandle multiple funeral and crematory businesses.
Identified remains
What they're saying:
Some families were notified after the discovery that their loved ones were among the bodies, even though they believed their relatives had already been laid to rest.
"You go through a grieving process all over again," said Clark Jones, whose niece's remains were identified among the bodies.
The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office said 49 of the 56 remains have been positively identified, and the families of 48 of those people have been notified.
Those identified are:
- Ernestine Moore, 61, Chicago
- Toni Meekey-Stith, 66
- Yong Cha Audette, 78, Orland Park
- Tommie Lee Carter, 47, Gary, Indiana
- Raymond Delgado, 51, Chicago
- Halyna Hural, 60
- Daniel Thompson, 69, Chicago
- Guadalupe Casas, 65
- Henry Thomas, 82, Chicago
- Porosilo Janusz, 78
- Currie Grandberry, 78
- Wesley Thompson Jr., 86
- Barbara Jean Edmonson, 80, Chicago
- Alicia T. Kelly, 71, Palatine
- Eric T. West, 58, Rockford
- Audrey Reed, 71, Chicago
- Martin Peter Keating, 67, Plainfield
- Arthur Henderson, 74
- Brent Barber, 63
- Virginia Duncan, 68
- Willie Smith, 65
- Eddie Lee Griffin Jr., 75, Chicago
- Louis Bland, 91
- Lidell Marshall, 58, Matteson
- Kimisean Wright, 42, Chicago
- Mary Barron, 78, Chicago
- Shauniel J. Nelson, 47, Riverdale
- Morris Barnes Jr., 81, Chicago
- Doris Rhodes, 99
- Archie N. Anderson, 64
- Gloria Barnett Williams, 69
- Elizabeth Perry, 60, Chicago
- Vincent Ernest Reyes, 74, Chicago
- Sheila Denise Gaines, 68, Chicago
- Janusz Morowski, 74, Chicago
- Laura Elena Espinosa De Carrera, 73
- Bruce T. Hoskin, 64, Chicago
- Darin Smart, 60, Chicago
- Barry Chubick, 79
- Timothy Murphy, 61, Dolton
- Dorothy Jean Collier, 84, Chicago
- Derrick D. Willis, 62, Chicago
- James Ronald Van Meter, 67, Decatur
- Terrance D. Finnie, 52
- James Lutha Wallace Sr., 84, Chicago
- Gloria Ann Anderson, 75, Chicago
- Keith A. Young, 48, Chicago
- Toriano Broussard, 30, Riverdale
The medical examiner's office withheld the identity of one person because their family had not yet been notified.
What's next:
The FBI previously said it could neither confirm nor deny whether an investigation was underway, but said it was communicating with law enforcement, the medical examiner’s office and prosecutors.
A class-action lawsuit has also been filed against the funeral home and its owners.
The Source: The information in this story came from the families of victims, the FBI, attorneys for the families, the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office, and organizers of Friday's press conference calling for a federal investigation.