Funeral Home Gives Grieving Mother The Wrong Remains: Lawsuit

ALGONQUIN, IL — A mother grieving the loss of her 4-month-old baby spent months thinking the ashes in an urn in her Carpentersville home were her daughter's. Months later, she would learn those ashes, which she'd sometimes talk to help comfort her, belonged to a Lake in the Hills man and were actually his 72-year-old mother's remains.

Now Georgic Byrd, of Carpentersville, and David Hill, of Lake in the Hills, are suing Willow Funeral Home in Algonquin for negligence, saying the ordeal has taken an emotional toll on both of them. And three months after the mix up was brought to her attention, Byrd still does not know where her baby's remains actually are, according to a complaint filed on Nov. 18 in McHenry County Court.

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The funeral home is accused of mistakenly releasing the remains of Laura Lee Hill, 72, to Byrd in April, according to the complaint.

Taliyah Wright, Byrd's daughter, and Laura Lee Hill, Hill's mother, died within a week of each other in March. Wright, who was born early by emergency C-section, developed a type of newborn brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation and limited blood flow, according to the complaint. She was monitored in the intensive care unit before dying at Lutheran General Hospital on March 19.

Laura Lee Hill died at Bella Terra Wheeling nursing home on March 26 from complications related to Alzheimer’s disease. Both Byrd and Hill signed an agreement with Willow Funeral Home to pick up their loved one's remains, transport them to the funeral home and have their bodies cremated, and both were told the ashes would then be provided to them in an urn.

In April, a grieving Byrd picked up an urn containing what she was told were her daughter's ashes, according to the complaint. After bring them home, she sometimes spoke to Taliyah's ashes, which comforted her.

A couple months later, in late July, Hill's son contacted the funeral home to arrange a pickup of his mother's remains since his family was ready to plan a memorial service for her. He was told the ashes had already been released to a relative, according to complaint. The lawsuit claims Hill then immediately went to Funeral Home and was given a photocopy of a document entitled “Receipt of Cremated Remains of the Decedent.”

"That document states that Linda Lee Hill’s cremains were picked up by Byrd on April 10, 2020. Byrd’s signature is contained on that document as well as a photocopy of her Illinois Driver’s License," according to the complaint.

Fearful someone may have stolen the ashes, Hill filed a police report. He then got in touch with Byrd's mother, talking to her over the phone. She provided Hill with her daughter's cell phone. A couple days later, Hill called Byrd and told her the remains provided to her were not her daughter's, according to the complaint.

That same day, Hill and Byrd met at the Algonquin Police Department, where Hill requested Byrd be cleared of any wrongdoing. Weeks later, Byrd turned over the remains she thought belonged to her infant daughter to Hill.

The mix up forced Hill's family to push back a memorial service for his mother, who was finally memorialized in a service six months after her March death, according to the complaint.

"That memorial service had been delayed, unnecessarily, due to Funeral Home’s failure
to provide Hill with his mother’s cremains earlier, as promised," the lawsuit alleges.

For Byrd, who still does not know what happened to her child's remains, the pain runs deep. The mix up has also not been explained to her by anyone at the funeral home, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit says the fact that Taliyah's ashes were never with her "felt like a cruel joke had been played on her and that she had lost Taliyah all over again."

"To this day, the fact that Byrd does not know where Taliyah’s ashes are haunts her. After the pain of her child’s brain damage and lengthy hospital stay coupled with the trauma of her death, Byrd still does not have closure because (the funeral home) did not deliver her ashes as promised," according to the complaint. She also has not been able to "properly mourn her child's death."

The lawsuit claims the funeral home was negligent and violated both the Illinois Crematory Regulatory Act and Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Practices Act. The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory damages in excess of $50,000, plus punitive damages and for any court costs or attorney's fees to be covered by the funeral home.