NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) – People and liked ones from Tennessee to Latin The us are devastated right after learning the bodies of their beloved types had been not buried the way they wished.
Now, the Tennessee Division of Commerce and Insurance policies is investigating numerous complaints. A federal lawsuit has also been filed.
At a cemetery off Ashland Town Freeway, you will find Julio Alonzo’s final resting location.
“He died in 2019. And the sad matter about this is he was killed up in Kentucky,” Lawyer John Morris reported.
Morris tells News 4, Alonzo was supposed to be cremated. His family members predicted his continues to be to be despatched home, above 2,300 miles to Guatemala. A remaining goodbye that never took place.
It is tragic. I necessarily mean, it’s really tragic. And, all I can say is that, you know, it’s irresponsible to manage remains like this,” Morris mentioned.
Morris and his lawful group invested months investigating, hoping to keep track of down Alonzo’s grave, only to uncover him lying in a Pauper’s Grave next to Jane Doe’s and other mysterious gravesites.
Unfortunately, Alonzo’s not the only circumstance Morris is hunting into.
An additional is Aroldo Crisostomo Hernandez.
In accordance to a federal lawsuit at this time in courtroom, Hernandez, who also died in 2019, was intended to have his overall body sent back again to his spouse and children in a rural component of Guatemala.
According to the match, a mate of the family paid out Reid Van Ness, a former licensed embalmer, $4,000 in cash on behalf of Hernandez’s father to transport Hernandez’s remains house.
But the accommodate promises that months went by and Hernandez’s overall body hardly ever arrived.
The fit alleges that no issue how a lot of times family and mates claimed they called Van Ness, they could not get a concrete remedy on the whereabouts of Hernandez’s stays.
According to lawful paperwork, Van Ness operated out of both Nelson and Sons Memorial Chapel and Saddler Funeral Property and Crematory Solutions.
“And as we commenced to investigate this, and the Board of Administrators got concerned and investigated this, the original investigation turned up 15 bodies involving two funeral properties. That were being saved like lumber in a backroom,” Morris mentioned.
Following several requests for an on-camera job interview, Van Ness agreed to discuss with us more than the mobile phone. We initial requested Van Ness about the body of Julio Alonzo.
“Permission was supplied to the cremating and then they also experienced all of the documentation to ship regardless of what the funeral house needed to do. And the funeral property refused to explain to me what they did,” Van Ness claimed.
We also asked about Freddy Hernandez.
“Multiple factors had been going on at that time. 1 of the most significant kinds had to do with space and shipping and delivery. He died at the time of yr that spacing is constrained,” Van Ness mentioned.
Just after a extended-fought battle, Hernandez’s entire body was eventually despatched household, 7 months immediately after his death.
As for Alonzo’s human body, the question even now remains on whether or not he will ever get sent home or continue to be here in Tennessee.
“I’m joyful we eventually found Mr. Alonzo’s entire body. At minimum we can give his household some semblance of closure. But you know, at this position, they’ll under no circumstances get the stays again home short of some thing excessive like digging up his human body,” Morris stated.
News4 contacted both equally funeral households. Both of those pointed out that their lawyers are managing the condition.
Information4 left a message with Saddler’s lawyer and we are waiting around to listen to again. We also requested for Nelson and Son’s attorney, but they would not give us their title.
The Office of Commerce and Insurance policy issued the followed statement:
“Alex Martin, Assistant Commissioner of Regulatory Boards, and the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance policies desire to express their sincerest condolences to the families of people influenced by this unfortunate predicament while they may well be in overseas international locations. We are at present investigating 3 complaints associated to this subject. We urge all people — whether they are native English speakers or not — who might sense that they have been treated unfairly by a licensee or if they know of unlicensed or illegal exercise to immediately file a criticism with our team.”
The Division of Commerce and Insurance plan tells News 4 that Van Ness has surrendered his license as a funeral
director and embalmer. The letter has also been sent to consulates in several nations, which include Guatemala, El Salvador, and Mexico.
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