Sept. 20, 2026
'That’s Not My Momma’ Funeral Home Displays Wrong Body After Accidentally Cremating Woman
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RSS Feed A Detroit family has accused a local funeral home of posing another body dressed in their late mother’s dress and wig during a family viewing, after accidentally cremating her before loved ones could say goodbye. The children of 61-year-old Kimberly Moore say a worker at Hutchinson Funeral Home told them the toe tag got wet and fell off and that’s how her body got mixed up with somebody else’s body. Meantime the funeral home has released a statement saying they are heartbroken and deeply sorry for what happened. That’s a major oops.“
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00:00:11
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Sunday, September 20th. Where is my mama? That is the wrong question to be asked when you show up at your mama's funeral. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ Robes. They had the wrong body in the casket for the viewing. This is wild. A story we're just getting out of Detroit and Robes. Initially, we saw some headlines like, oh, my God. And then you think. Poor family.
00:00:42
Speaker 2: That is horrific.
00:00:43
Speaker 3: And this was a young woman who died, 61 years old, Kimberly Moore. And yes, the direct quote from her own daughter who was going there to put some makeup on her mom before the viewing. And look, if anyone has lost someone and has had that opportunity to see your mom or your loved one for the last time, I got to do it with my grandmother.
00:01:04
Speaker 2: It's incredibly special.
00:01:05
Speaker 3: It's your last time to say goodbye and to think that she was going there to make her look pretty for the viewing. And the direct quote she told the funeral director, that is not my mama, sir.
00:01:16
Speaker 1: What the actual hell? Robes, this story is coming to us out of Detroit. This happened on Friday. And really not sure where they're going from here, Robes. Yes, folks, you can only imagine what this is like, but this is a 61-year-old woman, Kimberly Moore. Robes, what a family. Five kids, 28 grandkids? Did I say that right?
00:01:38
Speaker 3: Wow.
00:01:38
Speaker 1: Five kids, 28 grandkids. All of these folks are coming to celebrate her in Detroit this weekend. So on Friday, Robes is supposed to have a viewing, as you just started, from 4 to 7. Now, people have been, most of us in our lives have been through this before. Sometimes people go to the viewing just to lay eyes on. say goodbye. I'm never usually robed. I don't like these. For me, I hate going and looking at a dead body.
00:02:06
Speaker 3: I'm not a big fan of it either. My grandmother, it wasn't a viewing. She wouldn't have wanted that. I actually just got to see her body before they took her to the funeral home. For me, that was actually super important because I didn't get to say goodbye. It was a sudden death.
00:02:21
Speaker 2: We weren't expecting it.
00:02:22
Speaker 3: And it was important to have that closure. So I understand it on that level. I don't think I would have if I had not gone through that because I'm with you when it's, when I'm going to awake or going to a viewing, I get uncomfortable seeing someone else's loved ones, dead body that, that bothers me.
00:02:41
Speaker 1: We've, we've all done it and we get how important it is. It was important for me when it came to my granddad or certain folks, but it's just those things. We call it awake. It's a visitation. It's a viewing, all those things, but it's, For me, Robes, it's one of those things, you're standing around kind of socializing while the body is right there. And that was just, it wasn't just walk past and do the thing. I've been to so many that seem like social events, and we have a body sitting in the middle.
00:03:08
Speaker 3: I've been to one like that before, and it was a former teacher of mine, and I remember just feeling so uncomfortable.
00:03:13
Speaker 1: So to set this up, though, Robes, these are, and it is very important, and that moment was very important for me with my granddad, like it was for you with your grandmother. So... We get to this family of five kids, 28 grandkids. It's clearly a woman had a big family. Yeah. This was a big deal.
00:03:28
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:03:29
Speaker 1: And Robes, it's, I think even some people put this into their wills, how they want to look, how they want to be dressed, how they want, right? What jewelry they want on.
00:03:37
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
00:03:38
Speaker 1: So to hear that the daughter showed up, bro, this was a very special, solemn, and I assume emotional, but very important time for her. Yes. And to show up, and C, robes someone wearing Mama's stuff.
00:03:55
Speaker 3: That is one of the most disturbing parts of this story. Yes, she actually noticed it when they started to unzip the bag, I guess from the very beginning, because a mole that she knew was on her mom's toe was not there. And her quote is, when he unzipped the bag, I looked at the toe, and I was like, it's not a mole on her toe? And I turned around and I looked at him, and I said, this is not... My mama, sir. He said, I'm so sorry. And yeah, she had her mom's clothing, her dress on, her wig on, another woman's body.
00:04:30
Speaker 1: That seems offensive.
00:04:31
Speaker 2: So offensive.
00:04:32
Speaker 1: That seems really painful. Now, the mistake is one thing, but then to have your mama stuff on another dead person. So what happened? She immediately turns to the guy and said, that ain't my mama. So what in the world is going on? Robes, and now it gets a little more offensive. It gets a little stranger, and actually, we don't seem to have really solid answers right now.
00:04:56
Speaker 3: No, and that's what they're demanding for, our answers. They're trying to figure out where their mom is and what happened to her. They said, look, she died of, I believe it was endometrial cancer at 61. That is a young woman, but she knew she was dying, and she had laid out What she wanted to happen. So that makes it even more cruel. But they believe they were told by the funeral home that their mother was, they believe, accidentally almost immediately cremated. But they don't even have the ashes. Then the next day, like, oh, we found them.
00:05:32
Speaker 2: But how do you even trust?
00:05:35
Speaker 1: So that's the thing, baby. Would you trust? Here's your urn. Take this at home and put it on. You have no idea.
00:05:40
Speaker 2: No, I would want a DNA test to be done.
00:05:42
Speaker 1: Again, they can do that with ashes, right?
00:05:44
Speaker 2: I think they can. And I would demand it. And they would need to demand it.
00:05:47
Speaker 3: Because if you can't even get the body right and you think you cremated my mom accidentally.
00:05:53
Speaker 2: And they had some whole story about the toe.
00:05:58
Speaker 3: We see this in movies where they put the name or the identity of whoever those remains are on someone's toe. They believe that that tag got wet. And somehow the name disappeared, and that's.
00:06:10
Speaker 2: How it got mixed up.
00:06:11
Speaker 3: That's the latest explanation I saw, given that somehow the toe tag got wet.
00:06:20
Speaker 1: Then you cremated mama who didn't want to be cremated, and then you gave me some ashes that why would I ever trust you again?
00:06:27
Speaker 2: You could never trust them again.
00:06:29
Speaker 1: You could never trust what they're saying. So this funeral home, Hutchison Funeral Home up there in Detroit. Um, they did put out a statement rope. They're trying to let us, it doesn't sound like they necessarily know exactly what happened yet, but they're looking into it. Yes. No, the funeral home is on top of it.
00:06:46
Speaker 3: We've got this statement from the funeral home. Well, first of all, they've started an internal review. I should hope so. Um, here's the statement. We are heartbroken and deeply sorry for what miss Morris family has experienced. We are aware of the family's concerns and we will continue to communicate with them honestly and respectfully.
00:07:05
Speaker 2: Um, What?
00:07:07
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I missed that line earlier. We are aware of the family's concerns.
00:07:10
Speaker 2: Concerns that they.
00:07:11
Speaker 1: With the actual hell?
00:07:12
Speaker 3: That they don't believe that the ashes are the ashes and that they didn't get the body.
00:07:15
Speaker 2: That, yes, of their own mother.
00:07:17
Speaker 1: That threw me off.
00:07:18
Speaker 3: Concerns....
00:07:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a way to put it, right? It's kind of a shitty way to put it.
00:07:24
Speaker 3: We are aware of the family's concerns, and we will continue to communicate with them honestly and respectfully. It doesn't look like you communicated with them honestly or respectfully from the beginning.
00:07:33
Speaker 2: You're not going to continue to do something you didn't do from the beginning. That's a terrible statement. It continues, though.
00:07:40
Speaker 1: They were honest when they said, yeah, we cremated your mama.
00:07:43
Speaker 2: They were honest when they said, we're sorry.
00:07:44
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:07:45
Speaker 2: Whoops.
00:07:47
Speaker 3: We have launched our own internal review to determine exactly what happened, and we will deal with it accordingly. Out of respect for Miss Moore and her family, we ask their privacy be honored during this time.
00:07:58
Speaker 2: We will share more when we can. Are you kidding me? They're speaking out. They're not looking for privacy. They're looking for answers.
00:08:03
Speaker 3: So I think it's so funny that the funeral home is asking people or the media not to talk to the family.
00:08:09
Speaker 2: The family's like, yeah, we would like to talk to the media about this.
00:08:12
Speaker 1: They're looking for any camera outside. They are doing interviews left and right.
00:08:15
Speaker 3: The crazy thing is, The daughter who went there to go put on her makeup said, whoever this lady is, I pray that her family comes forth. They need answers too. According to the daughter, the funeral home doesn't know who this woman is. And they're now trying to find out who this woman belongs to or what family she belongs with.
00:08:35
Speaker 1: Is it possible there is some family with wrong ashes in an urn on their mantle? Is it possible there's some other family going to visit a tombstone, a burial site that has the remains of who?
00:08:53
Speaker 3: I would argue that the answer to that is yes, all of that is possible because they don't know who this woman is that they've tried to pass off as their mother.
00:09:02
Speaker 1: That is the most difficult part. Now, I would really like to hear Robes if they were aware of the mistake and tried to fool this family. That is criminal. That for me is criminal. A mistake being made like this, obviously it shouldn't happen, but Robes, there is some maliciousness in the idea, let me just dress this other body up and try to fool the family. That's... Yeah, because if.
00:09:25
Speaker 3: There was this toe tag something or other, I don't know, somehow, that would have to mean that two toe tags.
00:09:33
Speaker 2: Would have had to somehow... Get mixed up. That's confusing.
00:09:38
Speaker 3: But they did say pretty quickly that they believe she was cremated almost immediately. But was this other woman supposed to be cremated?
00:09:44
Speaker 1: Didn't they say two bodies or something came at the same time? Yes.
00:09:48
Speaker 2: But how do they not know where their mother is right now?
00:09:52
Speaker 1: Well, as shocking, Robes, shocking as this story was, I was also shocked. that there's plenty more out there just like this one. All right, we continue here on Amy and TJ Family in Detroit dealing with tragedy on top of tragedy, having to mourn more than once after the death of their beloved mother and grandmother, Kimberly Moore, 61 years old. They had a viewing for her on Friday. Wrong body. They had the wig and the dress on a different body, and the family was told that their mom had been cremated. They are trying to figure out what exactly is going on. Robes? Do you remember over the years hearing of stories like this?
00:10:43
Speaker 2: No, I do not.
00:10:46
Speaker 3: When we woke up this morning and you told me about this, I was shocked. And then when I went to go read about it, I couldn't believe. I mean, this is one of those situations where you would say you had one job. Like literally you had one job and we had all the plans laid out. Again, this woman knew she was dying, had her dying wishes in writing and her family was following through on it. They trust that with a funeral home. This is what they do. How do you mix up bodies? Apparently, it's easy to do.
00:11:21
Speaker 1: And I say easy. Maybe that's not right, Robes. But we have had story after story after story after story. You don't have to go hunt. You don't have to go look back years. These stories happen fairly frequently, Robes.
00:11:32
Speaker 2: You found three examples within the last 12 months alone?
00:11:35
Speaker 1: Oh, my goodness. There were several in the summer. Robes, I couldn't believe. Now, the one I'll point out happened in New York this summer. There was a family that's suing for $ 16 million over this. Jose Daniel Diaz Felipe, 84 years old, Robes. Family shows up for the funeral service. Robes, the man that died, Jose Felipe, was bald and 5'3. The man in the casket was much taller and had hair.
00:12:08
Speaker 2: What?
00:12:08
Speaker 1: Kid you not. The family tells the funeral home that is not him. They argued with the family. I say, that's the guy. They kept on and on and on. Eventually, it swerves. It takes them, I don't know how long to figure this out. They had cremated the guy. Same type of situation. You know what?
00:12:27
Speaker 3: This is scary to me to think about because you and I have talked about, and I'm sure everyone listening has been to a wake and has seen an open casket.
00:12:37
Speaker 2: Isn't that fairly rare?
00:12:39
Speaker 3: Don't most people either just cremate or bury their loved ones? So if this is happening and it's only obviously being known because you have an open casket, how many people have urns or interned somebody or buried somebody that wasn't actually their loved one and they go back to those sites to pay their respects or to feel close to that person and they don't even realize that that's not their family member? I mean, if this is happening in open caskets, you know this is happening all the time.
00:13:08
Speaker 1: Robes, that's scary. Yeah. Because you have to be right. This probably happens all the time.
00:13:13
Speaker 2: Yes, and you'll never know. That's so scary.
00:13:17
Speaker 1: That's devastating.
00:13:19
Speaker 2: It is devastating. This is disturbing now.
00:13:21
Speaker 1: I'll point out is Jose Espinoza. That was in October of last year. He was 44 years old. They're at a viewing robes. Caskets open. The family says, this is not clearly, this is not our guy. This was actually the funeral that this was happening. Robes, the funeral was delayed. It took them an hour. They literally had to go track down the body to go figure out. They're opening drawers.
00:13:44
Speaker 3: Is this him?
00:13:45
Speaker 1: Is this him? Is this your guy?
00:13:47
Speaker 3: Wow.
00:13:48
Speaker 1: This happens, Robes. And there's a story out of Rhode Island. There's another out of North Carolina. Again, to your point, only the past 12 months. Robes, this happens fairly often.
00:13:55
Speaker 3: Right. And how often do people have open caskets? Not as often, for sure. Uh, yes, as a Catholic, we don't really do that. So it's, you know, they, they bury bodies and, but the cremation, once that happens, there's no going back.
00:14:10
Speaker 2: So you are not going to have a body.
00:14:13
Speaker 1: This is one of those, it was a very weird story that leads, that led us to something else and to realize this is a thing and it happens and it's awful. And I don't know what needs to be done about it. I don't know what regulations and whatever. And I'm sure their funeral homes never made a mistake of any kind. And I'm sure you've been reading this morning, but something in the transfer, like the hospital has to release the body to the funeral home. And there's all these steps that have to happen. If you die at home and there's maybe a coroner and then maybe it goes to the hospital. Like so many people involved that, I guess mistakes can be made. But this is one mistake that cannot be made.
00:14:52
Speaker 3: I mean, just to have it happen as often as it has just in the past few months is a frightening, frightening thought. And now I feel like no matter what, like, we need DNA testing.
00:15:03
Speaker 2: Like, prove. Like, that is so scary.
00:15:06
Speaker 3: You get an urn. Now I'm going to be like, is this really my loved one? How am I supposed to know?
00:15:11
Speaker 1: I'm not being cremated. I need a viewing, an open casket funeral. I need several people to confirm. Okay. That's deep.
00:15:20
Speaker 2: Okay, put it in writing. I'll honor your wishes.
00:15:23
Speaker 1: All right. But only after they're in writing? I'm telling you about them now. All right, folks. Wherever you might be today on this Sunday, hell of a story here. But put this on your radar as well. We appreciate you spending time with us. I'm TJ. On behalf of my dear Amy Robach, we will talk to you all soon.
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Sunday, September 20th. Where is my mama? That is the wrong question to be asked when you show up at your mama's funeral. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ Robes. They had the wrong body in the casket for the viewing. This is wild. A story we're just getting out of Detroit and Robes. Initially, we saw some headlines like, oh, my God. And then you think. Poor family.
00:00:42
Speaker 2: That is horrific.
00:00:43
Speaker 3: And this was a young woman who died, 61 years old, Kimberly Moore. And yes, the direct quote from her own daughter who was going there to put some makeup on her mom before the viewing. And look, if anyone has lost someone and has had that opportunity to see your mom or your loved one for the last time, I got to do it with my grandmother.
00:01:04
Speaker 2: It's incredibly special.
00:01:05
Speaker 3: It's your last time to say goodbye and to think that she was going there to make her look pretty for the viewing. And the direct quote she told the funeral director, that is not my mama, sir.
00:01:16
Speaker 1: What the actual hell? Robes, this story is coming to us out of Detroit. This happened on Friday. And really not sure where they're going from here, Robes. Yes, folks, you can only imagine what this is like, but this is a 61-year-old woman, Kimberly Moore. Robes, what a family. Five kids, 28 grandkids? Did I say that right?
00:01:38
Speaker 3: Wow.
00:01:38
Speaker 1: Five kids, 28 grandkids. All of these folks are coming to celebrate her in Detroit this weekend. So on Friday, Robes is supposed to have a viewing, as you just started, from 4 to 7. Now, people have been, most of us in our lives have been through this before. Sometimes people go to the viewing just to lay eyes on. say goodbye. I'm never usually robed. I don't like these. For me, I hate going and looking at a dead body.
00:02:06
Speaker 3: I'm not a big fan of it either. My grandmother, it wasn't a viewing. She wouldn't have wanted that. I actually just got to see her body before they took her to the funeral home. For me, that was actually super important because I didn't get to say goodbye. It was a sudden death.
00:02:21
Speaker 2: We weren't expecting it.
00:02:22
Speaker 3: And it was important to have that closure. So I understand it on that level. I don't think I would have if I had not gone through that because I'm with you when it's, when I'm going to awake or going to a viewing, I get uncomfortable seeing someone else's loved ones, dead body that, that bothers me.
00:02:41
Speaker 1: We've, we've all done it and we get how important it is. It was important for me when it came to my granddad or certain folks, but it's just those things. We call it awake. It's a visitation. It's a viewing, all those things, but it's, For me, Robes, it's one of those things, you're standing around kind of socializing while the body is right there. And that was just, it wasn't just walk past and do the thing. I've been to so many that seem like social events, and we have a body sitting in the middle.
00:03:08
Speaker 3: I've been to one like that before, and it was a former teacher of mine, and I remember just feeling so uncomfortable.
00:03:13
Speaker 1: So to set this up, though, Robes, these are, and it is very important, and that moment was very important for me with my granddad, like it was for you with your grandmother. So... We get to this family of five kids, 28 grandkids. It's clearly a woman had a big family. Yeah. This was a big deal.
00:03:28
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:03:29
Speaker 1: And Robes, it's, I think even some people put this into their wills, how they want to look, how they want to be dressed, how they want, right? What jewelry they want on.
00:03:37
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
00:03:38
Speaker 1: So to hear that the daughter showed up, bro, this was a very special, solemn, and I assume emotional, but very important time for her. Yes. And to show up, and C, robes someone wearing Mama's stuff.
00:03:55
Speaker 3: That is one of the most disturbing parts of this story. Yes, she actually noticed it when they started to unzip the bag, I guess from the very beginning, because a mole that she knew was on her mom's toe was not there. And her quote is, when he unzipped the bag, I looked at the toe, and I was like, it's not a mole on her toe? And I turned around and I looked at him, and I said, this is not... My mama, sir. He said, I'm so sorry. And yeah, she had her mom's clothing, her dress on, her wig on, another woman's body.
00:04:30
Speaker 1: That seems offensive.
00:04:31
Speaker 2: So offensive.
00:04:32
Speaker 1: That seems really painful. Now, the mistake is one thing, but then to have your mama stuff on another dead person. So what happened? She immediately turns to the guy and said, that ain't my mama. So what in the world is going on? Robes, and now it gets a little more offensive. It gets a little stranger, and actually, we don't seem to have really solid answers right now.
00:04:56
Speaker 3: No, and that's what they're demanding for, our answers. They're trying to figure out where their mom is and what happened to her. They said, look, she died of, I believe it was endometrial cancer at 61. That is a young woman, but she knew she was dying, and she had laid out What she wanted to happen. So that makes it even more cruel. But they believe they were told by the funeral home that their mother was, they believe, accidentally almost immediately cremated. But they don't even have the ashes. Then the next day, like, oh, we found them.
00:05:32
Speaker 2: But how do you even trust?
00:05:35
Speaker 1: So that's the thing, baby. Would you trust? Here's your urn. Take this at home and put it on. You have no idea.
00:05:40
Speaker 2: No, I would want a DNA test to be done.
00:05:42
Speaker 1: Again, they can do that with ashes, right?
00:05:44
Speaker 2: I think they can. And I would demand it. And they would need to demand it.
00:05:47
Speaker 3: Because if you can't even get the body right and you think you cremated my mom accidentally.
00:05:53
Speaker 2: And they had some whole story about the toe.
00:05:58
Speaker 3: We see this in movies where they put the name or the identity of whoever those remains are on someone's toe. They believe that that tag got wet. And somehow the name disappeared, and that's.
00:06:10
Speaker 2: How it got mixed up.
00:06:11
Speaker 3: That's the latest explanation I saw, given that somehow the toe tag got wet.
00:06:20
Speaker 1: Then you cremated mama who didn't want to be cremated, and then you gave me some ashes that why would I ever trust you again?
00:06:27
Speaker 2: You could never trust them again.
00:06:29
Speaker 1: You could never trust what they're saying. So this funeral home, Hutchison Funeral Home up there in Detroit. Um, they did put out a statement rope. They're trying to let us, it doesn't sound like they necessarily know exactly what happened yet, but they're looking into it. Yes. No, the funeral home is on top of it.
00:06:46
Speaker 3: We've got this statement from the funeral home. Well, first of all, they've started an internal review. I should hope so. Um, here's the statement. We are heartbroken and deeply sorry for what miss Morris family has experienced. We are aware of the family's concerns and we will continue to communicate with them honestly and respectfully.
00:07:05
Speaker 2: Um, What?
00:07:07
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I missed that line earlier. We are aware of the family's concerns.
00:07:10
Speaker 2: Concerns that they.
00:07:11
Speaker 1: With the actual hell?
00:07:12
Speaker 3: That they don't believe that the ashes are the ashes and that they didn't get the body.
00:07:15
Speaker 2: That, yes, of their own mother.
00:07:17
Speaker 1: That threw me off.
00:07:18
Speaker 3: Concerns....
00:07:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a way to put it, right? It's kind of a shitty way to put it.
00:07:24
Speaker 3: We are aware of the family's concerns, and we will continue to communicate with them honestly and respectfully. It doesn't look like you communicated with them honestly or respectfully from the beginning.
00:07:33
Speaker 2: You're not going to continue to do something you didn't do from the beginning. That's a terrible statement. It continues, though.
00:07:40
Speaker 1: They were honest when they said, yeah, we cremated your mama.
00:07:43
Speaker 2: They were honest when they said, we're sorry.
00:07:44
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:07:45
Speaker 2: Whoops.
00:07:47
Speaker 3: We have launched our own internal review to determine exactly what happened, and we will deal with it accordingly. Out of respect for Miss Moore and her family, we ask their privacy be honored during this time.
00:07:58
Speaker 2: We will share more when we can. Are you kidding me? They're speaking out. They're not looking for privacy. They're looking for answers.
00:08:03
Speaker 3: So I think it's so funny that the funeral home is asking people or the media not to talk to the family.
00:08:09
Speaker 2: The family's like, yeah, we would like to talk to the media about this.
00:08:12
Speaker 1: They're looking for any camera outside. They are doing interviews left and right.
00:08:15
Speaker 3: The crazy thing is, The daughter who went there to go put on her makeup said, whoever this lady is, I pray that her family comes forth. They need answers too. According to the daughter, the funeral home doesn't know who this woman is. And they're now trying to find out who this woman belongs to or what family she belongs with.
00:08:35
Speaker 1: Is it possible there is some family with wrong ashes in an urn on their mantle? Is it possible there's some other family going to visit a tombstone, a burial site that has the remains of who?
00:08:53
Speaker 3: I would argue that the answer to that is yes, all of that is possible because they don't know who this woman is that they've tried to pass off as their mother.
00:09:02
Speaker 1: That is the most difficult part. Now, I would really like to hear Robes if they were aware of the mistake and tried to fool this family. That is criminal. That for me is criminal. A mistake being made like this, obviously it shouldn't happen, but Robes, there is some maliciousness in the idea, let me just dress this other body up and try to fool the family. That's... Yeah, because if.
00:09:25
Speaker 3: There was this toe tag something or other, I don't know, somehow, that would have to mean that two toe tags.
00:09:33
Speaker 2: Would have had to somehow... Get mixed up. That's confusing.
00:09:38
Speaker 3: But they did say pretty quickly that they believe she was cremated almost immediately. But was this other woman supposed to be cremated?
00:09:44
Speaker 1: Didn't they say two bodies or something came at the same time? Yes.
00:09:48
Speaker 2: But how do they not know where their mother is right now?
00:09:52
Speaker 1: Well, as shocking, Robes, shocking as this story was, I was also shocked. that there's plenty more out there just like this one. All right, we continue here on Amy and TJ Family in Detroit dealing with tragedy on top of tragedy, having to mourn more than once after the death of their beloved mother and grandmother, Kimberly Moore, 61 years old. They had a viewing for her on Friday. Wrong body. They had the wig and the dress on a different body, and the family was told that their mom had been cremated. They are trying to figure out what exactly is going on. Robes? Do you remember over the years hearing of stories like this?
00:10:43
Speaker 2: No, I do not.
00:10:46
Speaker 3: When we woke up this morning and you told me about this, I was shocked. And then when I went to go read about it, I couldn't believe. I mean, this is one of those situations where you would say you had one job. Like literally you had one job and we had all the plans laid out. Again, this woman knew she was dying, had her dying wishes in writing and her family was following through on it. They trust that with a funeral home. This is what they do. How do you mix up bodies? Apparently, it's easy to do.
00:11:21
Speaker 1: And I say easy. Maybe that's not right, Robes. But we have had story after story after story after story. You don't have to go hunt. You don't have to go look back years. These stories happen fairly frequently, Robes.
00:11:32
Speaker 2: You found three examples within the last 12 months alone?
00:11:35
Speaker 1: Oh, my goodness. There were several in the summer. Robes, I couldn't believe. Now, the one I'll point out happened in New York this summer. There was a family that's suing for $ 16 million over this. Jose Daniel Diaz Felipe, 84 years old, Robes. Family shows up for the funeral service. Robes, the man that died, Jose Felipe, was bald and 5'3. The man in the casket was much taller and had hair.
00:12:08
Speaker 2: What?
00:12:08
Speaker 1: Kid you not. The family tells the funeral home that is not him. They argued with the family. I say, that's the guy. They kept on and on and on. Eventually, it swerves. It takes them, I don't know how long to figure this out. They had cremated the guy. Same type of situation. You know what?
00:12:27
Speaker 3: This is scary to me to think about because you and I have talked about, and I'm sure everyone listening has been to a wake and has seen an open casket.
00:12:37
Speaker 2: Isn't that fairly rare?
00:12:39
Speaker 3: Don't most people either just cremate or bury their loved ones? So if this is happening and it's only obviously being known because you have an open casket, how many people have urns or interned somebody or buried somebody that wasn't actually their loved one and they go back to those sites to pay their respects or to feel close to that person and they don't even realize that that's not their family member? I mean, if this is happening in open caskets, you know this is happening all the time.
00:13:08
Speaker 1: Robes, that's scary. Yeah. Because you have to be right. This probably happens all the time.
00:13:13
Speaker 2: Yes, and you'll never know. That's so scary.
00:13:17
Speaker 1: That's devastating.
00:13:19
Speaker 2: It is devastating. This is disturbing now.
00:13:21
Speaker 1: I'll point out is Jose Espinoza. That was in October of last year. He was 44 years old. They're at a viewing robes. Caskets open. The family says, this is not clearly, this is not our guy. This was actually the funeral that this was happening. Robes, the funeral was delayed. It took them an hour. They literally had to go track down the body to go figure out. They're opening drawers.
00:13:44
Speaker 3: Is this him?
00:13:45
Speaker 1: Is this him? Is this your guy?
00:13:47
Speaker 3: Wow.
00:13:48
Speaker 1: This happens, Robes. And there's a story out of Rhode Island. There's another out of North Carolina. Again, to your point, only the past 12 months. Robes, this happens fairly often.
00:13:55
Speaker 3: Right. And how often do people have open caskets? Not as often, for sure. Uh, yes, as a Catholic, we don't really do that. So it's, you know, they, they bury bodies and, but the cremation, once that happens, there's no going back.
00:14:10
Speaker 2: So you are not going to have a body.
00:14:13
Speaker 1: This is one of those, it was a very weird story that leads, that led us to something else and to realize this is a thing and it happens and it's awful. And I don't know what needs to be done about it. I don't know what regulations and whatever. And I'm sure their funeral homes never made a mistake of any kind. And I'm sure you've been reading this morning, but something in the transfer, like the hospital has to release the body to the funeral home. And there's all these steps that have to happen. If you die at home and there's maybe a coroner and then maybe it goes to the hospital. Like so many people involved that, I guess mistakes can be made. But this is one mistake that cannot be made.
00:14:52
Speaker 3: I mean, just to have it happen as often as it has just in the past few months is a frightening, frightening thought. And now I feel like no matter what, like, we need DNA testing.
00:15:03
Speaker 2: Like, prove. Like, that is so scary.
00:15:06
Speaker 3: You get an urn. Now I'm going to be like, is this really my loved one? How am I supposed to know?
00:15:11
Speaker 1: I'm not being cremated. I need a viewing, an open casket funeral. I need several people to confirm. Okay. That's deep.
00:15:20
Speaker 2: Okay, put it in writing. I'll honor your wishes.
00:15:23
Speaker 1: All right. But only after they're in writing? I'm telling you about them now. All right, folks. Wherever you might be today on this Sunday, hell of a story here. But put this on your radar as well. We appreciate you spending time with us. I'm TJ. On behalf of my dear Amy Robach, we will talk to you all soon.