L.I. Woman Finds Glass, Staples Mixed In With Late Father's Ashes
AMITYVILLE, NY (CBSNewYork) -- All she wanted was to preserve her dead father's legacy and remains, but instead, a Long Island woman said her dad got trashed – literally.
Now, as CBS 2's Scott Rapoport reports, Jennie Spooner is fighting back.
"I couldn't believe it. I kept looking at it," she said. "I couldn't believe I was seeing this.
Spooner, of Amityville, said that when her beloved father, 79-year-old Harry, died last year, she immediately carried out his dying wish. He hoped to have his remains cremated, so she could scatter his ashes in his favorite places.
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"It should have been nice ashes," she said.
Spooner said that when she got the ashes, she made a horrifying discovery.
"It's garbage – it's not my dad," she said.
Spooner said that mixed in with her father's remains, she found a crazy combination of garbage: glass, ballpoint pen springs, pieces of bone, and a half-melted crucifix.
"That's my father, that's a parent," she said. "That's someone you love all your life, and he's mixed in with garbage."
It all raises the horrifying question of how all the trash got into her father's ashes.
"I'm wondering where that came from," Spooner said.
Spooner said she called the director of Singer Hasgill Funeral Home in Amityville demanding an explanation, and she was stunned by what she was told.
"He said, 'just bring it in, we'll regrind it for you,'" she said.
The funeral home director told CBS 2 he had no comment. At the Long Island Cremation Company in West Babylon, an employee who didn't want to be on camera refused comment, but gave a brief statement from the bushes outside.
"This is a sacred place, and we would like to protect the privacy and sanctity of the families that use our services," the employee said.
Spooner said she has hired a lawyer and is considering a lawsuit against the funeral home, as the image of her father's trashed remains is something she will never get over.
"It'll always be in my heart and in my head," she said.
"There were springs, glass fragments, wisk broom and the remains of a cross that Harry did not wear," said attorney Jeffrey Lisabeth.
Lisabeth has filed an intent to sue the Singer Hasgill Funeral Home. The funeral home blamed the cremation company.
The New York State Division of Cemeteries is now reportedly investigating the case.
