Family says funeral home gave them wrong ashes - DC Breaking Local News Weather Sports FOX 5 WTTG

Family says funeral home gave them wrong ashes

A grieving family's pain on long island was made even worse when they discovered the ashes inside an urn given to them by a funeral home was not their departed loved one.

Latisha Gibbs and her family were at Far Rockaway Beach Thursday to release the remains of her sister Tameka into the ocean when she noticed something horribly wrong.

The name on the urn was not her sister's. Gibbs said that Jeremiah Gaffney Funeral Home gave her the wrong remains.

Dr. Jeremiah Gaffney, the owner of the funeral home, has apologized to the family. He said he believes Latisha Gibbs accidentally took the wrong remains from the funeral home. He also said he has the correct ashes and questioned why the Gibbs family held onto the incorrect remains instead of coming back.

Gibbs's attorney, Michael Lamonsoff, said the family doesn't have confidence that the funeral home will really give them the right remains.

A jury may decide if and how much a funeral home should pay for botching a final goodbye.