Bodies exhumed after concerns raised about Missouri burials

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Two graves have been opened after a southern Missouri mortuary worker raised concerns three bodies had been mixed up, and the families weren't notified.

One body was exhumed Sept. 10, and a second was exhumed Sept. 11 with detectives, mortuary and funeral home staff and family members present, according to Springfield, Missouri, Police Department spokeswoman Lisa Cox.

Cox said the agency was awaiting DNA results before determining whether "any mistakes or criminal activity has occurred." But relatives at the opening of Debra Lemmon's gravesite said her body wasn't there. Her husband, Jack Lemmon of Bolivar, Missouri, called the situation "the most bizarre deal that ever was."

"The Springfield police are investigating to determine whether a crime occurred and whether this was done intentionally to cover up what was going on at the mortuary, and we will review their investigation to determine whether a criminal charge should be filed," said Todd Myers, the chief assistant prosecuting attorney for Greene County, Missouri.

The mortuary was aware of the errors before they became public and had been working with the families to identify the bodies properly, Springfield Mortuary owner Brian Simmons said in a statement Thursday. The staff that apparently allowed the errors no longer works at the mortuary, the funeral home is paying for the investigation, and it has made changes to ensure nothing similar happens in the future, he said.

"Words cannot express how apologetic we are to the families that the bodies in their loved ones' graves were not who they were originally identified to be," he said.

Former mortuary employee Karley Boston said she filed a complaint in January with the Missouri Attorney General's Office and the Missouri Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers, saying two of the bodies were buried in the wrong graves, and a third, which was supposed to be buried, was cremated even after the mistake became known.

She said she eventually contacted the families because her concerns weren't being addressed. Family members alerted police in late August, Cox said.

According to a copy of the complaint Boston's father, Floyd Boston, provided to The Associated Press, the mix-up happened in July 2014 while she was working as an apprentice at the mortuary, which embalms and cremates bodies for other funeral homes.

Complaints are confidential, said Chris Cline, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions and Professional Registration, which oversees the funeral board. He couldn't confirm whether Boston had filed a complaint. State attorney general spokeswoman Nanci Gonder initially said she was unable to locate a record showing Boston had filed a complaint and later directed additional questions to the board.

No disciplinary action has been taken against the mortuary, though the board has taken disciplinary action against Boston. The board gave Boston a license that contained restrictions after finding she performed embalming work before she was authorized for apprenticeships; she said she thought the work she performed was allowed.

Meanwhile, the Lemmon family is dealing with an unsettling situation. Jack Lemmon said it appears his wife was cremated, even though she was against cremation. He picked up her ashes Thursday from the Missouri State Veterans Cemetery in Springfield, where another woman's body was thought to have been interred with her husband.

"We've been decorating a grave for a woman we don't even know," he said. "I'm a pretty tough old bird, but I don't like how things turned out."