An Indiana widow, Darla Smith, has found herself entangled in a legal battle with two cremation services after a disturbing mishandling of her late husband's remains came to light. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Smith accuses Crown Cremation Services and Heights Crematory of negligence and gross mishandling of human remains following the death of her husband, Darryl Smith, on August 4 last year.
Mired in grief, Darla Smith's situation worsened after Crown Cremation Services in Indiana subcontracted the cremation to Heights Crematory in Illinois, only to allegedly leave Darryl's body improperly stored among over 100 other corpses in unrefrigerated conditions, as detailed in the lawsuit. Nearly three weeks had passed before his body was cremated, despite being promised a 5 to 7 day service, NBC Chicago reports.
The Illinois Comptroller's Office, which regulates crematories, initiated an investigation into Heights Crematory after receiving a tip in February. Revealing gruesome details, Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza said, "We had bodies that were piled on top of other bodies with limbs exposed, faces exposed. Some of them were stacked in coolers, some of them, some of those coolers were operational, but not all of them, some of them were not," NBC Chicago stated. This investigation led to the suspension of Heights Crematory's business license, with steps being taken towards its revocation.
