DETROIT (WXYZ) — Kimberlly Kaye Moore’s loved ones are grieving twice, after a horrific realization at a Detroit funeral home.
“It’s a lady in there with our mother’s dress on, and her hair on, and her makeup and it’s not our mother," Byron Moore told 7 News Detroit.
He and his siblings prepared to say their final goodbyes to their mother who died earlier this month. However, right before Moore’s viewing on Friday, her daughter, Bianca Robinson, said she made a disturbing discovery.
“When I came to put my mom nails and her lashes on, he was asking me like, ‘Is this yo Mom?’ And I’m looking like, 'you should know,’” Robinson recalled.
She said that conversation was with the mortuary staff.
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Robinson explained, “He unzipped the bag, and when he unzipped the bag, I looked at the toe, and I was like it’s not a mole on her toe, and I turned around, and I looked at him."
"I said, 'This is not my momma sir,' and he said, 'I’m so sorry.' He said, ‘Your mom must have been cremated when she first got here because it was two ladies that was here that came in when your mom came. And he said, ‘We must’ve cremated her,'" she said.
Robinson continued, "I said, ‘How do you make a mistake like that?'”
Christopher Moore said, “They said the toe tag... they said they think the toe tag got wet and fell off and that’s how her body got mixed up with somebody else’s body.”
Detroit police stood by to keep the peace. The funeral home locked the door, as Moore’s family protested. They claim the funeral home tried to cover up its mistake.
Loved ones said the plan was for Moore to be cremated after Saturday’s funeral, after everyone had a chance to see her one last time.
But now, they said that’s been taken away.
Robinson said, "We don’t have a viewing. What do we have? We don’t even have her ashes! Somebody please tell us something.”
7 News Detroit wanted to get answers on whether Moore’s body was cremated and how the situation was handled.
“We’re investigating it," Joseph Hutchison Jr., the funeral homes vice president of operations told 7 News Detroit.
He declined to answer any questions and directed us to his public relations spokesman. Funeral home spokesman Mario Morrow said if the funeral home finds itself at fault then the family will be made whole.
