Welcome to the hundred-and-sixty-ninth edition of Morticians’ Monday Morning Mashup, 4M #169, where we’ll serve up bite-sized, easily-digestible nuggets of the deathcare news you need to crush conversations in the week ahead. Bon appetit!
Disney deathcare
A South Carolina funeral director’s helpful suggestion was the subject of a recent item in “All Ears,” a newsletter devoted to reporting on all things Disney. Citing the many fans who have spread the cremains of loved ones without authorization within Disney parks and rides, Homer Elwood, owner of Gray Funeral Home, suggested via the Washington Post that Disney consider getting into the deathcare business. Elwood believes that if Disney provided a private niche within their park grounds, it “could be a real moneymaker for them.” We tend to agree!
No jail time
The woman who was found lying face down in front of a Las Vegas funeral home — with a casketed body nearby — has somehow avoided a jail sentence after being found guilty of burglary of a business. Instead, she will be placed on probation and expected to participate in drug court for at least 24 months.
More charges, volume one
Miles Harford, the former Colorado funeral director at whose home authorities discovered a hearse with a badly decomposed body inside last year, is facing new charges. Three new counts of abuse of a corpse have been added to the initial charges against Harford, who also had more than 30 sets of cremains hidden in his home’s crawl space and in the hearse with the body, which had been then for over a year. Harford’s trial is scheduled for January after being delayed five times.
More charges, volume two
In related news, there are new charges related to Georgia’s Johnson Funeral Home case — and they aren’t against owner Chris Johnson, who is still in Coffee County jail facing multiple felonies. This time, a 52-year-old presumed associate of Johnson’s has been arrested and charged with two counts of insurance fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit a felony after an investigation found that Johnson allegedly forged a death certificate to help the man collect life insurance fraudulently. This investigation actually began well before Johnson was arrested on multiple counts of abuse of a corpse after authorities found 18 decomposing bodies while serving an eviction notice at the funeral home.
