Add The New York Post on Google A Detroit family has accused a local funeral home of presenting another woman dressed in their late mother’s belongings during a family viewing — and accidentally cremated her before loved ones could say goodbye.
The children of 61-year-old Kimberly Moore say Hutchinson Funeral Home presented an unknown woman decked out in their mother’s dress and wig at a viewing on Friday — just one day before she was scheduled to be laid to rest, WXYZ reported.
“This is not my momma sir,” Moore’s daughter Bianca Robinson recalled telling a mortuary worker during the shocking viewing.
When Robinson arrived at the funeral home to put on her mom’s nails and lashes, she claimed a mortuary worked asked, “Is this yo Mom?”
“And I’m looking like, ‘you should know,’” she said of the staffer.
Another relative told FOX 2 the “woman got on my momma’s dress, wig, everything” but “that’s not my momma in the casket.”
“They tried to show us another lady. They opened the casket, it’s not her,” the devastated family member added.
According to Robinson, the mortuary employee allegedly said “I’m so sorry…your mom must have been cremated when she first got here because it was two ladies that was here that came in when your mom came.”
“He said, ‘We must’ve cremated her,’” Robinson recalled.
The distraught daughter said she asked the funeral staff: “How do you make a mistake like that?”
Relative Christopher Moore claimed the funeral home “said they think the toe tag got wet and fell off and that’s how her body got mixed up with somebody else’s body.”
“We are heartbroken and deeply sorry for what Ms. Moore’s family has experienced. We are aware of the family’s concerns and we will continue to communicate with them honestly and respectfully,” the funeral home said in a statement to FOX 2.
“We have launched our own internal review to determine exactly what happened and we will deal with it accordingly. Out of respect for Ms. Moore and her family, we ask that their privacy be honored during this time. We will share more when we can,” the statement added.
Family members said Moore was supposed to be cremated after the funeral on Saturday so that everyone had a chance to see her one last time.
“We don’t have a viewing. What do we have? We don’t even have her ashes! Somebody please tell us something,” Robinson said.
The Post reached out to Hutchinson Funeral Home but did not immediately receive a response for comment.
