Funeral home horror as family finds stranger’s corpse in loved one’s casket - giving relative a heart attack
The discovery of a total stranger inside a loved one's casket left a California family reeling from shock, and caused one relative to suffer a heart attack.
The devastated family of Joey Espinosa, 44, were attending his memorial service at the chapel of Forest Lawn Covina Hills funeral home after he passed away from heart failure.
When Espinosa's aunt arrived, she realized something was wrong when the casket that had been picked out was incorrect.
But as their nightmare unraveled, Laura Levario says the body inside the casket was not her nephew.
'I noticed the body wasn’t my nephew’s and the coffin we picked out wasn’t [there],' Levario told KSLA.
Espinosa's loved ones, who were already struggling to come to terms with the loss, demanded his remains be located for the service.
'He had a heart of gold. He was like a son to me,' Levario said.
Employees escorted the family to another room, but the person inside that casket wasn't Espinosa either.
Joey Espinosa (pictured) died at 44 from heart failure. His family organized a memorial at Forest Lawn Covina Hills funeral home and were horrified to discover another body in his casket
Espinosa's aunt realized something was wrong when the flowers and casket that had been picked out were incorrect - but the real nightmare began when they couldn't find his body
She said it took funeral home employees more than an hour to direct them to the correct room and allow them to finally begin mourning their loved one.
'They didn't know where my nephew's body was,' said Levario.
Amidst the chaos of searching for correct body, Levario's husband George became so distressed that he suffered a heart attack in the funeral home's chapel.
George woke up on life support three days later.
'It’s the worst experience we’ve ever had,' he said.
Forest Lawn called the tragic switch-up a 'scheduling error' and offered the family $200 for the ordeal, barely making a dent in the nearly $20,000 funeral.
Espinosa's family is suing the mortuary for emotional distress and negligence.
'Instead of mourning their loved one, they are searching for a body,' the family's attorney Elvis Tran told CBS News.
'When you're spending that much money on a place like Forest Lawn, you would think they would do things properly.'
His uncle George Levario (left) became so distressed that he had a heart attack. His wife Laura (right) said he collapsed in the chapel
Forest Lawn has multiple locations throughout Southern California.
Funeral service packages at their Covina Hills property range from under $10,000 to $18,775, not including burial and cemetery services.
According to their website, 'Forest Lawn is a place where people truly care… a place with people who will be there for you when you need help the most.'
The Daily Mail reached out to Forest Lawn and the family's attorney for comment.
In May, a family filed a lawsuit against an Atlanta funeral home. They claimed employees had switched their relative's body with another and dressed a stranger in in their loved ones' clothes.
