A Maryland widow is suing a funeral home for allegedly staging her husband’s cremation.
According to the Baltimore Sun, 52-year-old Demetra Street filed the federal lawsuit last week in the US District Court for the District of Maryland. The woman claims Wylie Funeral Homes conducted a “sham” service for her husband, Ivan T. Street, back in January, just days after he was buried at the direction of another woman who claimed to be his wife.
The plaintiff says the other woman had also contacted the funeral home to make service arrangements for Ivan T. Street. That woman reportedly provided a decades-old, unofficial marriage certificate and made plans for Ivan T. Street to be buried. An employee of the funeral home reportedly notified Street about the other woman’s claims; Street instructed the business to ignore the woman’s requests and proceed with the cremation, in accordance with her husband’s wishes.
Street accused the funeral home of failing to verify the woman’s claims, and ultimately collected payments for both services. The business allegedly buried Ivan T. Street at Mt. Zion Cemetery, and then held a bogus cremation ceremony for Street shortly after. The plaintiff says she learned about the alleged scam from a Wylie family member, who revealed her husband had been buried earlier that week.
“Because Defendants concealed the Burial from Plaintiff, she was excluded from attending Ivan’s Burial, paying her last respects, and participating in a graveside service,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit states the funeral home had charged the plaintiff $2,500 for the cremation and memorial service, and also charged the second woman an undisclosed amount for a casket, burial plot, and services.
“Defendants conducted a sham Memorial Service by falsely, fraudulently, and maliciously misleading the plaintiff and others to believe that Ivan had been cremated and that his ashes were contained in the funerary urn that Defendants displayed at the Memorial Service,” the lawsuit continued.
Street is is suing the business for alleged breach of contract, negligence, malicious fraud, misrepresentation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and more. She is seeking $8.5 million.
Wylie Funeral Homes has denied any wrongdoing.
“Due to restrictions imposed by our confidentiality requirements and the existence of pending litigation, we are not at liberty to disclose all of the information relevant to this matter,” Wylie wrote in a statement. “However, we vehemently deny the claims advanced by Ms. Street and assert that the underlying matter was handled with the utmost sensitivity toward the loved ones of the deceased.”
