Nationwide — The family of Kimberly Moore, an African American woman who died at 61 years old, says a funeral home in Detroit, Michigan, showed them another woman’s body during her viewing and may have cremated Moore by mistake. The family says the mix-up left them without the final goodbye they had planned.
Relatives gathered at Hutchinson Funeral Home on Friday, expecting to see Moore before her funeral the following day. Instead, her daughter Bianca Robinson said staff opened the casket and showed the family a woman wearing Moore’s dress and wig. Robinson had reportedly gone to the funeral home to finish her mother’s appearance by doing her nails and lashes when a worker asked whether the woman in the casket was her mother.
Robinson immediately said she knew the body was not Moore. Another family member also said the woman was wearing Moore’s clothing and wig but was clearly not their relative. The family then questioned funeral home employees about what had happened and where Moore’s body was.
Robinson recalled that a mortuary worker apologized and allegedly told her that Moore may have been cremated shortly after arriving at the funeral home. The worker reportedly explained that two women had arrived around the same time, which may have led to the bodies being confused. Christopher Moore, another relative, said the family was told a wet toe tag may have fallen off, causing the mix-up.
The family had planned to have Moore cremated after her funeral on Saturday, giving relatives time to gather and see her one final time. Instead, they say they were left without a viewing and did not have Moore’s ashes either. “We don’t have a viewing. What do we have? We don’t even have her ashes! Somebody please tell us something,” Robinson said, according to the New York Post.
Hutchinson Funeral Home acknowledged the family’s concerns in a statement and said it was conducting an internal review to determine what happened. The funeral home expressed sympathy for the family and said it would communicate with them while asking that their privacy be respected. The Post also reached out to the funeral home for comment but had not received a response at the time of reporting. The family is now seeking answers about how Moore’s body was handled and what happened to her remains.