PHOENIX — A family alleges in a lawsuit that a Phoenix funeral home mistakenly cremated their mother despite their wishes to bury her.
Jason Glenn and his three siblings filed a lawsuit against Eastlake Mortuary in Phoenix after they claim their mother, Joann Stephens, was cremated by mistake.
Glenn describes his mother as sassy, and a woman with a sense of humor whose health declined after a long battle with dementia.
"She would clearly say even in her dementia state that ‘you’re not going to burn me up’ she said ‘I’ve been good all my life and you’re not going to burn me up’ and she’d say ‘I want a beautiful funeral,'” Glenn said.
Stephens passed away at the age of 86 on November 15, 2022.
Glenn tells ABC15 they were familiar with Eastlake Mortuary as they are well known in the Black community.
"We knew that,” said Glenn. "And that’s why I started chatting with them early on.”
A complaint that was filed on Monday with the Maricopa County Superior Court claims, “When the family showed up to Eastlake Mortuary to finalize arrangements for the funeral service, they were told that would be no memorial service because Ms. Stephens’ body had been mistakenly cremated the day before.”
The complaint also states that Ms. Stephens had stated on numerous occasions before she passed that “she did NOT wish to be cremated, and that it was against her beliefs.”
The lawsuit goes on to allege that the mortuary agreed to “prepare Ms. Stephens’ body for viewing (including embalming, dressing/cosmetics/hair styling and casketing), provide a casket for the viewing, and arrange for the viewing/memorial service at a nearby church.”
Glenn tells ABC15 that he did not get a full reason as to why she was cremated.
The family was given an urn with the ashes, however, the complaint states, “No proof or verification of the identity of the cremains were ever provided to the family by Defendants."
“I don't have any tags or anything that says these are her ashes, there's just so many unanswered things here,” said Glenn.
Eastlake Mortuary is off Jefferson Street near downtown Phoenix.
They could not be reached by phone or email, but a lawyer for the funeral home told ABC15 that they had not been served with the lawsuit, therefore they do not have any comment since they do not know what the allegations are.
Glenn said his mother moved to Phoenix from Michigan as they sought care for her dementia.
Glenn’s three other siblings who are listed on the complaint still live in Michigan.
Arizona has a regulatory board that oversees funeral directors and embalmers. ABC15 reached out repeatedly to the board to see if any complaints were filed with their office, however, we did not hear back.
