Blanket with stillborn child’s remains handed to mom instead of cremated ashes

Aurora Hartley, an Oklahoma woman, is suing a local funeral home after a traumatic incident involving the remains of her stillborn baby, Hadley.

Hartley went into preterm labor at 27 weeks in November 2023, resulting in the birth of her stillborn child. After the birth, she turned Hadley’s body over to the Medical Examiner’s office for an autopsy.

The Medical Examiner’s office subsequently sent Hadley’s body to Alpha and Omega Mortuary for cremation. Hartley later picked up what she believed to be Hadley’s cremated remains and a hospital birthing blanket from Brown’s Funeral Service in Coalgate, Oklahoma.

However, when she opened the blanket, she discovered the remains of a child, prompting shock and disgust, according to her attorney, John Zelbst.

Upon returning to Brown’s Funeral Service for clarification, Hartley was given an urn containing ashes that did not belong to Hadley.

The funeral home reportedly claimed these were the ashes of a cremated placenta, which Hartley’s legal team disputes, stating the ashes showed no characteristics of a placenta. This discrepancy raised concerns about a potential cover-up, according to Zelbst.

Hartley’s attorneys are now seeking intervention from the state board to potentially shut down one or both of the funeral service providers involved in the case.

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Additionally, in April 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) investigated Alpha & Omega Mortuary Service and Crematory for violations of federal employment laws, resulting in the recovery of over $231,000 in back wages for the mortuary’s employees due to unpaid overtime and record-keeping failures.