Parents of a deceased man filed a lawsuit after they claimed that a funeral home sent them an unlabeled box that had their child's brain.
The brain allegedly started to smell and leaked fluids into the couple's car and got on the father's hand when he tried to move it. Lawrence Butler said that the gruesome discovery was overwhelming, noting that it left a horrific memory that taints what other memories they had of the "good young man."
Parents Receive Unlabeled Box With Deceased Son's Brain
As the father spoke at a news conference on Thursday, his wife, Abbey Butler, stood nearby, wiping away her tears. The incident involves the remains of the couple's son, Timothy Garlington, who died in 2023.
After his death, the Butlers had their son's remains shipped from one funeral home in Georgia to another that was located in Pennsylvania. The latter is where the parents picked up their deceased son's belongings, including a white cardboard box that had an unlabeled red box, according to ABC News.
The attorney for the Butlers, L. Chris Stewart, said at the news conference that Abbey was unable to open the red box at Nix & Nix Funeral Homes. A few days later, the red box, which was inside the couple's car, started to smell and leak fluid.
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But when Lawrence picked it up, the fluid covered his hands, and was later found to be "brain matter." When the parents called the funeral home in Georgia, Southern Cremations & Funerals at Cheatham Hill, they were told that it was their son's brain, noting that there was a mistake.
The company that owns the Georgia funeral homes, ASV Partners, declined to comment on the matter. Stewart said that the parents' last memory was holding their son's brain. Lawrence noted that he had to get rid of their car as he could not stand the idea that his child's remains were in it.
Filing a Lawsuit Against the Funeral Homes
The recently filed lawsuit notes that the two funeral homes negligently mishandled human remains and intentionally, wantonly, or recklessly inflicted emotional distress on the deceased man's parents, WECT reported.
Stewart also said that he had already consulted with other funeral homes, saying that at no point in the process is the brain of a deceased person "separated from body in that fashion and shipped in that fashion."
The attorney added that whether or not Nix & Nix knew that the man's brain was inside the box, the funeral homes should not have handed the package over to the Butlers because it was not included in the list of belongings that was sent from Southern Cremations, as per the South China Morning Post.
