Federal lawsuit filed against funeral home directors for failure to send bodies to families

By Caresse Jackman

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    NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WSMV) — Families and loved ones from Tennessee to Latin America are devastated after learning the bodies of their loved ones were not buried the way they wanted.

Now, the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance is investigating several complaints. A federal lawsuit has also been filed.

At a cemetery off Ashland City Highway, you will find Julio Alonzo’s final resting place.

“He died in 2019. And the sad thing about this is he was killed up in Kentucky,” Attorney John Morris said.

Morris tells News 4, Alonzo was supposed to be cremated. His family expected his remains to be sent home, over 2,300 miles to Guatemala. A final goodbye that never happened.

It’s tragic. I mean, it’s very tragic. And, all I can say is that, you know, it’s irresponsible to handle remains like this,” Morris said.

Morris and his legal team spent months investigating, trying to track down Alonzo’s grave, only to discover him lying in a Pauper’s Grave next to Jane Doe’s and other unknown gravesites.

Sadly, Alonzo’s not the only case Morris is looking into.

Another is Aroldo Crisostomo Hernandez.

According to a federal lawsuit currently in court, Hernandez, who also died in 2019, was supposed to have his body sent back to his family in a rural part of Guatemala.

According to the suit, a friend of the family paid Reid Van Ness, a former licensed embalmer, $4,000 in cash on behalf of Hernandez’s father to transport Hernandez’s remains home.

But the suit claims that months went by and Hernandez’s body never arrived.

The suit alleges that no matter how many times family and friends said they called Van Ness, they could not get a concrete answer on the whereabouts of Hernandez’s remains.

According to legal documents, Van Ness operated out of both Nelson and Sons Memorial Chapel and Saddler Funeral Home and Crematory Services.

“And as we began to research this, and the Board of Directors got involved and investigated this, the initial investigation turned up 15 bodies between two funeral homes. That were stored like lumber in a backroom,” Morris said.

After multiple requests for an on-camera interview, Van Ness agreed to speak with us over the phone. We first asked Van Ness about the body of Julio Alonzo.

“Permission was given to the cremating and then they also had all of the documentation to ship whatever the funeral home wanted to do. And the funeral home refused to tell me what they did,” Van Ness said.

We also asked about Freddy Hernandez.

“Multiple things were happening at that time. One of the biggest ones had to do with space and shipping. He died at the time of year that spacing is limited,” Van Ness said.

After a long-fought battle, Hernandez’s body was finally sent home, 7 months after his death.

As for Alonzo’s body, the question still remains on whether he will ever get sent home or remain here in Tennessee.

“I’m happy we finally found Mr. Alonzo’s body. At least we can give his family some semblance of closure. But you know, at this point, they’ll never get the remains back home short of something extreme like digging up his body,” Morris said.

News4 contacted both funeral homes. Both mentioned that their attorneys are handling the situation.

News4 left a message with Saddler’s attorney and we are waiting to hear back. We also asked for Nelson and Son’s attorney, but they would not give us their name.

The Department of Commerce and Insurance issued the followed statement:

“Alex Martin, Assistant Commissioner of Regulatory Boards, and the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance wish to express their sincerest condolences to the families of those affected by this unfortunate situation though they may be in foreign countries. We are currently investigating three complaints related to this matter. We urge all consumers — whether they are native English speakers or not — who may feel that they have been treated unfairly by a licensee or if they know of unlicensed or illegal activity to immediately file a complaint with our team.”

The Department of Commerce and Insurance tells News 4 that Van Ness has surrendered his license as a funeral

director and embalmer. The letter has also been sent to consulates in several countries, including Guatemala, El Salvador, and Mexico.

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