October 10th 2024.
According to the Maldonado family, there has been a grave mistake made by the Rivera Funeral Home, owned by RG Ortiz, when they shipped their beloved grandmother's remains to the wrong country and left her to decompose. The incident was brought to light when a video surfaced on TikTok, causing great distress to the family.
Carmen Maldonado, who passed away at the age of 96 on May 18, had requested to be laid to rest in her home country of Ecuador. However, after some time had passed, her children were informed by relatives that they had come across a video on TikTok that showed her body in a different Latin American country, where it was decaying.
In fact, the level of decomposition had reached a point where her skin was falling off, as stated in the lawsuit filed by the family in the New York State Supreme Court on Wednesday. It was later discovered that Maldonado's casket had been mistakenly shipped to Guatemala, which is about 1,400 miles away from Ecuador, as per court documents obtained by PIX11 News.
It was only after the family confronted the funeral home that they admitted their error. The family's lawyer, Phil Rizzuto, expressed his shock and disgust at the funeral home's actions, stating that no amount of money could make up for their mistake. He also condemned their lack of communication with the family, saying that it must have been devastating for them to find out about their grandmother's remains through TikTok.
The family has taken legal action against the funeral home, claiming that Maldonado was not properly prepared for transport and was carelessly sent to the wrong country while under the care of RG Ortiz Funeral Home, Inc. The family also revealed that Maldonado's body had been in Guatemala for 16 days.
Manuel Minchala, Maldonado's youngest son, accused the operator of the funeral home of being driven solely by money. He expressed his disbelief at the mistake, stating that not even an animal could make such a grave error. One of Maldonado's other children described the TikTok video as traumatizing for the entire family.
When approached for a comment, a woman who identified herself as the manager of RG Ortiz Funeral Home declined to speak about the lawsuit. She did mention that RG Ortiz operates two related funeral homes. The family is seeking unspecified damages for the distress caused by this incident.
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