Letting go of a loved one who passed away is often very difficult and emotional. However, saying a final farewell is even harder when the person lying in a casket happens to be a complete stranger.
As bizarre as this scenario may sound, it was a reality for one Seattle family, who discovered that a morgue had placed the wrong body in a casket that was supposed to be for Jerry Moon. Instead of seeing their father one last time, Moon's family was horrified when they opened his casket on Monday and saw the body of an unknown man with a plastic bag over his head. To make matters worse, the dead man inside the casket was dressed in their father's clothes and had a picture of their mother tucked under his arm, reports Gawker.
When the family tried to track down Moon's body so they could bury the right man, they learned he had already been cremated despite the fact that he had explicitly explained to his children he was terrified of being cremated and never wanted it done to his body.
Officials with Hospice Care in Longview, where Moon was staying when he died, told KIRO 7 that they believe the body mix-up occurred after the funeral home took possession of Moon's body. They also noted that a 97-year-old man died in their hospice at the same time as Moon and both were sent to the Brown Mortuary.
The Moon family, who is deeply upset over the incident, has hired an attorney and say that their only solace comes from knowing that their father is now "in heaven."