Infant’s Casket Was Dumped on Sidewalk by Funeral Home Employee

Philadelphia police have confirmed that a small casket containing the embalmed remains of an infant was left on the sidewalk by an employee of a New Jersey funeral home. The remains were the organs of a child aged three to four months. They had been removed as part of a previously ordered autopsy. The director of the funeral home in question called the Philadelphia police on Tuesday and let them know one of his employees admitted to dumping the casket.

It is believed that the casket originally held both the organs and the body of the infant. When attempting to bury the first casket, funeral workers noticed a broken hinge and transferred the infant’s body to a new casket. It is unclear why the organs were left in the damaged casket. It is even less clear as to why they were left on a sidewalk in Philadelphia. The police have contacted the infant’s family and they are understandably upset. Though there are plans to reunite the infant’s organs with the body, an exhumation will be required.

See Crimesider Staff, Cops: Infant’s Casket Was Dumped on Sidewalk by Funeral Home Employee, CBS News, July 6, 2017.