A FAMILY whose loved-one's body was left to decompose at a funeral home for a number of years have filed a lawsuit in the United States.
The body of Mary Alice Pitts Moore, who died in March 2015 aged 63, was found at First Family Funeral Home in Spartanburg, South Carolina in February - three years after her family paid for her cremation.
Her husband and son allege in a lawsuit brought against the funeral home and its operators that Moore's body was kept inside a non-refrigerated room.
Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said Mrs Moore's body had been in such poor condition that it took two weeks to identify her.
He added that the 63-year-old's embalmed remains were found on a board covered with a cloth and surrounded by fragrances that masked the smell.
First Family’s license was revoked shortly after the discovery, but the funeral home has asked for the lawsuit’s dismissal.
Taras Parker and his father filed the lawsuit in March, and remain mystified as to how their loved-one's body went undiscovered for so long.
"I never thought something like this could happen to her — to anybody," Taras told Charleston's Post and Courier.
"Three years, how would you feel? It gets worse every day just thinking about it."
Around 100 people turned up to pay their respects to Mrs Moore at a church in the town of Greenwood in April 2015 - all under the belief she had been cremated.
Another funeral home stepped in this spring after the discovery of her body and performed the cremation for free.
Mrs Moore's ashes now reside in an urn inside the Parkers' home, beside the only surviving photo they have of her - a tiny portrait on her old driver's license.
The South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division is investigating.
