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A Mississippi family mourning the loss of a relative was further anguished when they showed up for the funeral – and realized another woman was lying in the casket wearing their loved one’s clothes and jewelry.
Georgia Robinson said she could tell immediately that something was wrong Nov. 3 when she and her family arrived at the funeral home in Jackson, where they expected to bid farewell to her sister, Mary Jean Robinson.
“Once we got in there and signed the books and everything, we were walking down to view her body, and I knew something was kind of off. I could tell that it wasn’t her from far back,” Robinson told WLBT.
She said she was shocked to see that the stranger lying in the casket was wearing the clothes and jewelry the family had brought for Mary Jean.
“No ma’am, this is not my sister. This is her casket, this is the outfit that we brought her, this is the jewelry that we brought her, and I said these are her flowers, but I didn’t know who that is in the casket,” Robinson told the outlet.
She said she demanded to speak with the director of the Peoples Funeral Home.
“We’re telling him about the mistake, and he was very rude and very uncaring. He had an attitude with my son. [He] told us that we were going to have to pay for everything all over again,” the grieving woman said.
She said the funeral home ultimately reached an agreement with the family and bought new clothes for the dearly departed — but never replaced the casket.
“I told him not to put anything on my sister that was on that lady. He put the earrings on her anyway,” Robinson told the outlet.
“I feel terrible. Just to think, if we had a closed casket, we would have ended up burying someone else’s loved one instead of ours,” she added.
James Stewart, one of the funeral home’s directors, told WLBT he could neither confirm nor deny that a mix-up occurred, but insisted that the family told him they were pleased with the services.
“I feel terrible. Just to think, if we had a closed casket, we would have ended up burying someone else’s loved one instead of ours,” she added.
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