Mississippi Funeral Home Sued for Giving Families Wrong Bodies

A Mississippi funeral home is accused of giving the wrong bodies to two families.

The Enterprise-Journal reported Tuesday that two lawsuits accuse the Hartman-Jones Funeral Home in McComb of the body swap. Ninety-three-year-old Mary Dearman died on March 17, 2018, and 89-year-old Doris Alford died a day later.

The lawsuits say funeral home officials told Alford’s family days after they hosted a funeral that they had buried the wrong body. It says the body was exhumed and wrapped around its ankle was a name tag that read “Mary Dearman.” She was later buried a second time.

The lawsuits also accuse funeral home owner Jason Jones of slandering them. He had denied the swap to the newspaper, saying that the families were “being stupid and spreading rumors on Facebook.”