A family experienced a distressing incident when they discovered a stranger’s body in their loved one’s casket, leading to one relative suffering a heart attack. The shocking discovery occurred during Joey Espinosa’s funeral service, where his aunt, Laura Levario, noticed that the casket did not match the one they had selected and that the body inside was not Joey’s. This unsettling situation caused Laura’s husband to have a heart attack due to the extreme stress, requiring him to be placed on life support for three days.
Following the initial confusion, the family was led to another room at the Forest Lawn Covina Hills funeral home in California, where yet another incorrect casket was present. It took over an hour for the staff to guide them to the correct location, leaving the family in a state of turmoil. Forest Lawn attributed the mix-up to a “scheduling error” and offered the family $200 as an apology, which fell short of covering the funeral expenses totaling nearly $20,000. As a result, the Espinosa family is pursuing legal action against the mortuary for emotional distress and negligence.
Their attorney emphasized the family’s ordeal, stating that instead of mourning their loved one, they were forced to search for the correct body. The attorney criticized the handling of the situation by a reputable establishment like Forest Lawn. This incident follows a similar case where two sisters discovered a stranger wearing their mother’s clothes in a coffin before her funeral, ultimately leading to a mix-up that was rectified after the bodies were correctly identified and the service proceeded as planned.