Maryland Governor Orders Review of Funeral Board After Crematory Controversy

Governor Wes Moore is not playing around when it comes to deathcare in Maryland. Just weeks after Heaven Bound Cremation Services was shut down in the interest of public safety after eight years of issues, Moore has forced the resignation of three members of the Maryland State Board of Morticians and Funeral Directors and ordered an indepth review of the all-volunteer team that in his opinion has “failed” families. 

“Firstly, these allegations are despicable, and those responsible need to be held accountable,” Moore announced last week. “I know the board is independent, but they have failed these families and I share in their outrage, and I stand with them in demanding justice. There is an active investigation into this matter, and these families deserve better.”

Based on the information that has come to light since the board took emergency action to shutter the embattled Charles County crematory on January 23, 2025, Moore’s outrage is justified. As Connecting Directors recently shared, the closure of Heaven Bound stemmed from an inspection that found 11 issues ranging from an inoperable retort to three decomposing bodies — one of which had been in the facility since a March 2024 inspection. The facility had amassed a lengthy list of violations since its opening in 2016, including some that mandated random, unannounced inspections by the board. 

Despite these findings, Heaven Bound was only inspected a handful of times over the years. The egregious body storage issues noted in the March 2024 inspection had only worsened by the time the board’s inspector revisited the facility in January 2025. Last week, the executive director of the Maryland Board of Morticians and Funeral Directors, who has only served in the position for 14 months, admitted that inspections were “backlogged.”

“When I began my position, I noticed we were backlogged approximately 300 establishments in inspections,” said director Erika Malone. “132 have been completed in the last year.”

Malone was one of several state officials, morticians, and funeral directors who were questioned by the Maryland House Health and Government Operations Committee. The committee was also told that some crematories haven’t been inspected in nearly 10 years. 

Malone added that the “board did no inspections statewide for two years before the issues at Heaven Bound were exposed” because Maryland’s “lone investigator was assigned office duty for that period,”, according to WJLA ABC7 News.

Three of the 11 executive members and officers of the board have resigned “under pressure” from Gov. Moore and have been removed from the entity’s website. The site now lists the eight remaining board members as well as executive director Malone, an administrative assistant, a licensing coordinator, and the aforementioned “lone” investigator/inspector.

Charles P. Scheeler was asked by Gov. Moore to lead the review, which will involve a “thorough assessment of the board’s structure and operations and whether changes to law or regulations are warranted,” says the Southern Maryland News. Scheeler is a former federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.