Undertakers 'dump dead boyfriend on woman's porch'
Wednesday, October 10, 2001
A Missouri woman says she came home to find undertakers had dumped her dead boyfriend on her porch.

Nancy King's boyfriend, 74-year-old Robert Holder, had been dead for a week.

Ms King, who's 51, says the undertakers threatened to return the body if she didn't pay for the cremation. They refused to comment.

Regulators say they could lose their licence to trade.

Ms King, from Hickory County, says: "I think it's very cruel for a funeral home to drop a body back off at a loved one's place. It threw me into shock.

"I had to go out to get a gallon of milk. When we came home as I started to turn in the driveway I saw this white bag on my porch. I knew exactly what it was."

Another funeral director picked up the body.

The State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Home Directors says Hathaway-Peterman Funeral Home and the funeral director could have their licence revoked.

"Unfortunately, it's not too uncommon for the family not to have the money to pay for funerals and it's spelled out in the statute and regulations as to what should happen then," says spokesman Pat Handly.

"Some counties have funds set aside in county budgets for burial of indigents. But there are a number of recourses the funeral director could have taken other than taking the body back and putting it on the porch," he told the Springfield News-Leader.

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