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Background: Richardson Mortuary in Houston, Texas (Google Maps). Inset: Screenshot from the video taken by a customer (Instagram).
A Texas funeral home recently went viral for all the wrong reasons when an angry family member of a decedent filmed the conditions inside.
Richardson Mortuary in Houston, Texas became the target of a new investigation by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office after a video posted to social media showing several apparently neglected bodies spread like wildfire. KTRK, a local ABC affiliate, reported that once the video was posted by a family member of one of the deceased, several other family members arrived at the scene, worried about their loved ones inside.
One woman reportedly recognized her own grandmother, whom she told KTRK was “supposed to be cremated already.”
But the situation became even more chaotic when the man filming the video was confronted by an employee of the mortuary – who allegedly stabbed the customer.
Local Fox affiliate KRIV spoke to the alleged victim, who told the station at the scene that he was taking himself to the hospital. Police told KRIV that he had only suffered a “superficial” wound to the stomach, and that the employee might have been acting in self-defense. An investigation into the stabbing was ongoing.
Neither the alleged victim nor the employee were named, but the alleged victim’s sister spoke to several outlets including KTRK about the conditions inside Richardson Mortuary. Tamara McGruder and her brother, who shot the viral video, had gone to the funeral home wanting to check on the status of their mother and uncle.
When they arrived, they witnessed several of the dead being stored wantonly around the building, which was apparently undergoing construction. None of the rooms, including where bodies were being kept, had functioning air conditioning. Some of the bodies were out in the open, some in caskets or plastic body bags.
McGruder told KTRK, “It’s bodies in caskets, boxes, plastic bags. Its no A/C, its gnats. It smells like rotten blood.” She said that when she found her mother’s casket, “she had gnats in her face.”
Murita Brown was one of the family members who recognized her grandmother’s burial outfit in the video. She told KTRK, “I saw a lady in purple in the same suit as my grandmother, so I said, ‘Wait a minute, that look like my grand momma.””
She added that her grandmother was supposed to have been cremated last month, saying, “This was March the 21st and she was supposed to be cremated already, and we been waiting on her ashes and nothing having been happening.”
Demtrious Riley-Sylvester told KRIV that the mortuary told her family that her brother’s remains had been cremated, but found that was not the truth. She said, “It’s like some trash or a dog. Just throw him away like he’s trash, and she had me believing. We were just waiting on them to bring the ashes.”
Harris County Precinct 7 Constable Smokie Phillips told KTRK that he knew the business owner personally and told the station that he was currently in the hospital after having a heart attack. Phillips confirmed to the station that the owner allowed the bodies to be brought to other funeral homes.
Richardson Mortuary has reportedly been the subject of 14 complaints over the last 10 years.
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