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Writer's pictureLoVetta Jenkins

Devastated Ohio Family Sue Funeral Home After Their Mother's Body was Attacked By Rats!


Lord have mercy this story takes the absolute cake! Can you imagine having to your mother pass away and then going to her funeral to find out that your mother's body has been desecrated?

THE HANDS THE PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE WOULD CATCH WOULD BE CATASTROPHIC!

We can't even begin to tell you how horrible this story is but, we're going to try!

Donna Pence (pictured left with her son) was given two weeks to live in July. Her son and his husband took her in to live with them to care for her during her last days. She moved in with them on a Monday and transitioned to the next life that following Sunday. Her death was so sudden, the family was unprepared and had to make financial arrangements with the funeral home.

As if dealing with the death of his mother wasn't enough, her son Tommy, had to deal with another UNIMAGINABLE situation altogether.

Via Fox 19:

They contracted with the Lafferty Funeral Home in West Union, for approximately $4,400. That amount would cover the embalming, the funeral, and graveside service.

“We find out later that he had actually sent my mom on out to Mt. Orab, Ohio to a place to have her embalmed there,” said Clark-Harp.

According to the police report they filed with the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, it was the Megie Funeral Home, a third party, that was sub-contracted to embalm Pence’s body. Clark-Harp said she left the house on July 15 and returned to Lafferty’s Funeral Home on July 26.

Clark-Harp says there was an agreement in place with the funeral home to get his deceased mother prepared and dressed with make-up and all.

In screen-captured text messages between the family and funeral home owner John Lafferty, Lafferty appears to respond to Pence’s sisters: “That is good!”

Lafferty later denied agreeing to this. Police reports say he had no idea they wanted to do this.

No one was prepared for what Pence wound up looking like, according to the family."

You have to see the pictures to understand this family's outrage!

"Pence’s body was in what amounts to a plastic pair of coveralls to stop her seeping body from leaking into the casket.

“She was sweating, I mean she was just seeping,” said Clark-Harp, who believes his mother was not properly embalmed. “There was a blood spot in the coffin, which I don’t understand, if a person’s embalmed, why would there be blood?”

And the family claims rigor mortis had not even set in after nearly two weeks.

“Mom was so flexible,” said Clark-Harp. “And this might sound a bit morbid, but she was so flexible, I was able to lean down and take my mother’s arm and easily, just kind of put it on my head and I said a prayer with her.”

According to the police report, Chrissa Shelly, the woman who did the embalming at the Mt. Orab facility, told them she would tug periodically on Pence’s ear to make sure the embalming fluid was getting all the way in, but given her weakened state from chemotherapy, pulled the lobe right off, a theory Clark-Harp refuses to believe.

Clark-Harp says Lafferty told him he was sorry and that he was going to knock the balance off so that there would be no balance due. He said Lafferty also offered him a tombstone of his choice for 50 percent off, as well as a dinner so they could talk it all out.

“I want justice for my mother," said Clark-Harp. “You have a heart and you have love and compassion for someone, you just don’t treat them like garbage.”

Somebody would pay DEARLY for this if it had happened to anyone I knew! Do you think the family is overreacting or would you have done worse?

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