Family's 'Shock and Horror' After Son's Body at Funeral Infested with 'Moving and Visible Maggots': Suit

A lawsuit filed by a mom in Chesapeake, Virginia reveals some disturbing allegations towards the funeral residence that dealt with the service for her son, who had handed away on Might 2, 2022 from a automotive accident at the age of 24 years previous.

Seven days after his loss of life, Terreon Williams’ household got here collectively at Snelling Funeral House to mourn his passing, and had been as an alternative so impacted by what they skilled that they retained a lawyer and have now filed suit.

In keeping with the swimsuit obtained by NBC affiliate WAVY, Terreon’s mom Tabitha Worrell and the household made a $3,000 down fee to the funeral residence to deal with the preparations and scheduled a viewing and service.

“As mourners approached the physique of Torreon Williams, these folks observed that Torreon Williams’ physique, significantly his face, nostril and mouth, had been coated with and consumed by clumps of maggots,” the lawsuit particulars of what occurred on Might 9, 2022.

Tabitha, “her household, and associates skilled shock and horror at the grotesque show of the physique of Torreon Williams,” reads the lawsuit.

“They supplied this household with a grotesque freak present,” the household’s lawyer Kevin Sharp advised WAVY. “Maggots pouring out of this younger man’s nostril. Maggots in his mouth, and on his face.”

“I simply bear in mind my sister screaming,” Tabitha’s sister Tiffany Barnhart advised the outlet.

And he or she additionally remembers how the employees allegedly responded, with Tabitha saying she noticed one feminine staffer “putting her hand on her, telling her to not make a scene.”

The way in which the lawsuit describes the purported encounter, the worker positioned her fingers on Tabitha and advised her, “Do not you make a scene.” One other worker allegedly stated the “flies received to him.”

“She was mortified by the way in which they reacted,” Tiffany advised WAVY. “They virtually appeared to say, ‘You don’t overreact right here.’ You’re the one guilty, not what they’d accomplished to her son.”

In keeping with the lawsuit, the maggots had been on Terreon’s physique for a while and “had been purposely ignored” by workers of the funeral residence. The swimsuit claims they’d “burrowed into holes in his cheek and moth that had not existed beforehand.”

Tabitha is claiming within the swimsuit that the funeral residence didn’t “adequately put together, protect and examine” her son’s physique earlier than the general public viewing. Additionally they consider that Snelling didn’t retailer the physique in a sealed refrigeration setting, and it was thus uncovered to parts.

WAVY requested Sharp how he believes this might have occurred. Whereas he says the reality will seemingly come out at trial, he supplied his ideas. “How this occurred,” he stated. “They obtained his physique, and they didn’t correctly clear and disinfect his physique, and then he went by the embalming course of. That was improper.”

When reached for remark by WAVY, Hollomon-Brown Funeral House, Inc./Snellings Funeral House, Inc. CEO Casey Jones shared the next assertion: “The sudden passing of Torreon Williams is tragic, and we lengthen our honest condolences to his household. Nevertheless, as a result of the occasions following his loss of life are the topic of ongoing litigation, we don’t consider it’s acceptable to remark publicly at this time.”

The household’s lawsuit additionally claims that in some methods, the household feels as if they’ve misplaced the Tabitha they knew from earlier than this incident, claiming she now suffers “nightmares, trauma, sleeplessness, flashback, nervousness, melancholy, nausea, humiliation, embarrassment, grief and horror that’s important and completely impacts all of her actions.”

Tabitha, who’s listed as plaintiff, is in search of $5,000,000, in addition to prices and charges and all different aid deemed honest. The lawsuit states that she continues to incur bills associated to her ongoing “psychological therapy and care.”

The case is ready for Chesapeake Circuit Courtroom’s civil division on July 28 at 8:45 a.m. The court docket is anticipating a three-day jury trial.