A tragic incident at a Texas funeral home has left a family in mourning after a worker was fatally crushed by a burial vault. In a heartbreaking twist, the victim, Angel Rojas, managed to leave a voicemail for his wife while trapped under the heavy concrete structure. In the message, he expressed his love and his wish to return home. Angel’s wife, Nataly Rojas, is now contemplating legal action, alleging negligence contributed to her husband’s untimely death.

Nataly Rojas shared the harrowing details of her husband’s final moments during a press conference in Dallas. “My husband was trapped under a vault, desperately calling for help and gasping for air,” she recounted, as reported by local ABC affiliate WFAA. She added, “He was frightened and just wanted to come home.”

Angel Rojas, aged 24, was employed at Restland Funeral Home, where he was operating heavy machinery to handle concrete burial vaults. These vaults are designed to protect caskets and their contents from the elements. It was during this task at the funeral home’s storage yard that one of the vaults tragically fell, pinning him to the ground. In the immediate aftermath, Angel made two critical phone calls: one seeking help and another to his wife, which went to voicemail.

Reflecting on the voicemail, Nataly Rojas tearfully remembered, “He just wanted comfort. He told me he loved me and longed to be home.”

“He just wanted to be held,” Nataly Rojas recalled about what was said. “He told me he loved me and he wanted to go home.”

Dallas Fire Rescue told WFAA that when firefighters arrived, they reportedly found Angel Rojas pinned from the waist down by the vault. First responders were able to lift the receptacle using hydraulic spreaders and air bags to free him after more than 45 minutes of being under the vault. He was rushed to a local hospital and pronounced dead upon his arrival.

“My husband was a smart worker,” Nataly Rojas said at this week’s press conference. “My husband knew the risk of a small error. My husband knew the precautions to everything he was doing. I don’t know what happened. But whatever did happen, he never should have been there alone.”

Nataly Rojas and her family have hired a lawyer, Matthew Graham with the J. Alexander Law Firm, for possible legal action against the Restland Funeral Home that employed him. “We believe it is grossly negligent of Restland for them to have put him in that position and for them to have caused his death, frankly,” Graham said during this week’s press conference.

“What we know about this situation is that there is no way on earth this man should have been operating that machinery alone,” Graham charged. “He shouldn’t have been working alone. He shouldn’t have been moving things of that weight alone.”

The funeral home did not respond to Law&Crime’s requests for comment Tuesday, but did provide a statement to WFAA saying, “We are saddened by the loss of our long-standing valued employee. We are cooperating with the authorities to determine the cause. His family and his fellow Restland employees need our support and we ask that we all give them space and time to grieve.”

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is reportedly investigating the circumstances surrounding Angel Rojas’ death and probing whether there was any wrongdoing, WFAA reports.

“It’s a tragedy, it truly is,” Graham said, noting how Nataly Rojas is currently weighing her legal options, including a gross negligence lawsuit. “If there is one thing we can do for his memory and for this family is to try to keep this from happening to anybody else.”