Morning Glory Funeral Home scandal
Encyclopedia
The Morning Glory Funeral Home scandal took place at the Howell Morning Glory Chapel in Jacksonville
, Florida
, in 1988, and involved improper disposal and burial of bodies by the funeral home
's owner, Lewis J. Howell. Investigation eventually revealed bodies stacked in the funeral home without preservation or refrigeration and multiple bodies buried inside single caskets.
bodies were found inside the funeral home. A total of 36 bodies, including one fetus, and three sets of body parts were uncovered inside the building. Most of the corpses were stacked in a closet, and some had been in the building for as long as a decade.
Later, three caskets buried by the funeral home at Hillside Cemetery, a "pauper's cemetery
" where the city's indigent population are buried, were exhumed and found to contain a total of eight bodies and "a bag of mixed bones." The case was investigated by the Duval County
Medical Examiner's Office, headed by Chief Medical Examiner
Peter Lipkovic.
The case was featured in the Season 3 episode "A Deadly Business" of the cable television
documentary
series Dr. G: Medical Examiner
. Dr. Jan Garavaglia, the star of the series, had recently taken her first post-fellowship job at the Duval County Medical Examiner's Office, and the episode detailed her role in the extensive investigation.
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, in 1988, and involved improper disposal and burial of bodies by the funeral home
Funeral home
A funeral home, funeral parlor or mortuary, is a business that provides burial and funeral services for the deceased and their families. These services may include aprepared wake and funeral, and the provision of a chapel for the funeral....
's owner, Lewis J. Howell. Investigation eventually revealed bodies stacked in the funeral home without preservation or refrigeration and multiple bodies buried inside single caskets.
Investigation
The scandal first came to light June 7, 1988, when a number of decomposingDecomposition
Decomposition is the process by which organic material is broken down into simpler forms of matter. The process is essential for recycling the finite matter that occupies physical space in the biome. Bodies of living organisms begin to decompose shortly after death...
bodies were found inside the funeral home. A total of 36 bodies, including one fetus, and three sets of body parts were uncovered inside the building. Most of the corpses were stacked in a closet, and some had been in the building for as long as a decade.
Later, three caskets buried by the funeral home at Hillside Cemetery, a "pauper's cemetery
Potter's field
A potter's field was an American term for a place for the burial of unknown or indigent people. The expression derives from the Bible, referring to a field used for the extraction of potter's clay, which was useless for agriculture but could be used as a burial site.-Origin:The term comes from...
" where the city's indigent population are buried, were exhumed and found to contain a total of eight bodies and "a bag of mixed bones." The case was investigated by the Duval County
Duval County, Florida
Duval County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2010, the population was 864,263. Its county seat is Jacksonville, with which the Duval County government has been consolidated since 1968...
Medical Examiner's Office, headed by Chief Medical Examiner
Medical examiner
A medical examiner is a medically qualified government officer whose duty is to investigate deaths and injuries that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post-mortem examinations, and in some jurisdictions to initiate inquests....
Peter Lipkovic.
Conviction and sentencing
Howell was convicted of felony grand theft for accepting money for funerals that were not performed. He was sentenced to one year in prison, but he served only 2 1/2 months and was released in February 1989.Reaction
The incident led to a tightening of Florida's regulation of the funeral industry.The case was featured in the Season 3 episode "A Deadly Business" of the cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
series Dr. G: Medical Examiner
Dr. G: Medical Examiner
Dr. G: Medical Examiner is a reality television series shown on the Discovery Fit & Health. Dr. G, or Dr. Jan Garavaglia, is the Chief Medical Examiner with Florida's District Nine Medical Examiner's office in Orlando, Florida.This series features Dr...
. Dr. Jan Garavaglia, the star of the series, had recently taken her first post-fellowship job at the Duval County Medical Examiner's Office, and the episode detailed her role in the extensive investigation.