Before his death in February 2023, Addison Jenkins had selected the Boyd Funeral Home in Camden, New Jersey.
A Camden, New Jersey funeral parlour is being accused of dressing a departed loved one’s clothing incorrectly.
When the family arrived to examine the coffin before a public viewing, they first became aware of the tragic error.
“At or around 4:00 p.m. on February 17th, Plaintiffs approached the casket supposedly holding Addison and became immediately distressed and angered when they saw another unrecognizable corpse dressed in Addison’s clothes and belongings,” the Jenkins family said in a complaint filed on September 5. “The Plaintiffs were shocked, upset, confused and full of tears.”
Among other things, Jenkins’ family accuses the funeral parlour of treating human remains carelessly.
The funeral services for Addison Jenkins, who died in February 2023, were prearranged at the Boyd Funeral Home in Camden, New Jersey.
The family claims in the complaint that a funeral home makeup artist reportedly told them the body was Jenkins’s and that the funeral director was absent when they wanted to voice their concerns.
However, according to the lawsuit, the family and the staff of the funeral home “continued to disagree with each other as to whose body was in the casket.”
The filmmaker supplied the Jenkinses pictures to show that it was their departed loved one; however some bodily marks did not match those of their loved ones. They say he had a significant foot infection and cauliflower ear, which were not on the body in the coffin.
The family was able to verify that it was Jenkins when they went back to see the body on February 18 and asked for the casket to be opened so they could see it.
“What happened to the Jenkins family and their late loved one, Addison Jenkins, is disturbing and reprehensible,” said Michael Shaw, an attorney for the plaintiffs, in a statement provided to PEOPLE on Tuesday, October 22. To twist the knife, the funeral home’s heartless response to the Jenkins family’s disclosure of the inappropriate behaviour was to blame my clients by repeatedly claiming that their deceased loved one was buried in the wrong, unidentified body. It is inhumane and cruel to gaslight a distraught family after showcasing the incorrect body.
According to the complaint, they are requesting restitution and punitive damages through a jury trial.
