More than 50 decomposed bodies were discovered at a Chicago funeral home, triggering a police investigation and the suspension of its licence by Illinois authorities.
The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office said it was informed by state and local officials that 56 bodies were being stored improperly at South Chicago Chapel, with investigators and forensic pathologists sent to the site on Thursday, the Associated Press reported.
The office added that identifying each body could take several days, after which families would be notified.
Police said on Friday that an earlier statement wrongly described the scene as a hazardous materials incident, and that detectives were investigating, though no arrests had been made.
Latasha Johnson, 55, whose mother's funeral had been held at the chapel a day before the discovery, told she later learned her mother's body would need to undergo an autopsy and that she would have to identify the remains within a day or two. "I'm discombobulated," she said. "My heart is broken."
State records show funeral director Johanna Morgan, who incorporated South Chicago Chapel in 2022, had her licence suspended on Wednesday.
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation said her continued practice posed "a danger to the public safety," citing unrefrigerated storage and infestation, AP reported.
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Her husband, Clark Morgan, listed as the firm's president, had his own licence revoked in 2024 over an expired credential and unspecified "unprofessional conduct."
State Comptroller Susana Mendoza said the couple had previously run a crematory in Chicago Heights that lost its licence last year after inspectors found improperly stored bodies and hundreds of unreturned cremated remains.
Calling the latest case "heartbreaking and an abomination," Mendoza said the deceased were "someone's mother, father, sister, brother, child or friend," and that they deserved better, according to AP.
Cook County court filings name both Morgans as defendants in litigation tied to the Heights crematory. Messages left with the funeral home and the couple went unanswered on Friday.
The case follows similar discoveries in Pueblo, Colorado; Georgia; and Indiana over the past three years.
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