Another Arrest Of Mortuary Owner Where Decaying Bodies Found
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FORT WORTH (CBS 11 NEWS) - Rachel Hardy is back in jail, this time charged with theft. And even though her husband faces the same charges for the same case, Dondre Johnson has not been served or arrested.
In July 2014, eight decomposing bodies were found in the Johnson Family Mortuary, seemingly abandoned. At first, Rachel Hardy and Dondre Johnson were charged with abuse of a corpse. But three weeks ago the Tarrant County District Attorney's office announced they were escalating the charges to theft, a state jail felony.
Problem is, the warrants for Rachel Hardy and Dondre Johnson hadn't been served yet because law enforcement hadn't been able to track the couple down. Late yesterday, deputies found and arrested Hardy in Fort Worth.
But the I-Team found Dondre Johnson a few weeks ago. CBS 11 Investigative Reporter Mireya Villarreal met up with him after finding out he was still working funerals with a business in Sherman. The news was frustrating to victims like Lupe Vasquez, who's sister's body was found abandoned in that Fort Worth funeral home.
"These are bodies that even though they are gone they're still... they belong to somebody. They belong to a family," Vasquez told us.
Based on our undercover investigation the Texas Funeral Service Commission opened their own investigation into the Sherman funeral home Dondre Johnson and his brother were working with. That investigation is still on-going.
We are also now working with the sheriff's department to help track down Dondre Johnson, so he's served and arrested on his theft charges.
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