Family files lawsuit after discovering wrong body in casket during funeral
UNIONDALE (WABC) -- When a 39-year-old man died, his family sent the body back home to Guatemala for a funeral.
While watching the live stream of the funeral back in the United States, they were shocked to discover it wasn't their loved one's body in the casket.
Instead, it was a 96-year-old woman they did not know.
The family said the body mix-up understandably added to their grief.
"It's very hard to be here, all I want is for them not to make the same mistake that they did with my husband," said Lenor Valente, the widow.
Lenor Valente of Elmhurst described an unspeakable situation after 39-year-old Elmer Unul, the father of two of her children, died suddenly last May.
The funeral home in Corona, owned by R.G. Ortiz Funeral Homes, was supposed to transport Unul's body down to Guatemala.
But during a live stream of his funeral, Unul's family was horrified to learn the body in the casket wasn't his.
It was a 96-year-old woman, Carmen Maldonado, who was supposed to be buried in Ecuador.
"We realized only after they opened the casket that it wasn't my brother," said Glendy Garcia, Maldonado's sister.
Both families are now filing a lawsuit against Ortiz, but they are not the first.
Over the years, Eyewitness News has reported many other horrific accusations of body mix-ups in Washington Heights.
Even situations of corpses left to rot and funeral goers left to wheel in their loved ones on their own.
Last year the city filed a claim against Ortiz and collected more than $700,000.
But, plaintiffs wonder what it will take for someone to shut Ortiz down.
"The city is in a much better position to shut them down than we are," Phil Rizzuto, the plaintiff's attorney, said.
The funeral home had no comment on the latest complaint, filed on Tuesday.
It's one of about 10 from this law firm alone.
Ortiz catered to a high volume of clients with limited options financially. Their lawyers are now hoping for a settlement in the millions.
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