PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Philadelphia couple is suing two funeral homes after discovering their son’s brain among the personal effects they received after his cremation.
When Lawrence and Abby Butler’s son Timothy Garlington died in late November 2023, they hired Southern Cremations and Funerals in Georgia, where he lived, to cremate his remains and return him to them via the Nix & Nix funeral home in Philadelphia. On a table with his personal effects was a box that they took with them on their return home.
Chris Stewart, one of the couple’s lawyers, started to notice an extremely strong smell coming from the box that sat in their car.
“Which Mr. Butler noticed smelled like death,” said Stewart. “He then brought the box inside the home, not knowing what to do.”
Inside the box was Timothy’s brain.
“It is in my heart that I got in my car and I smelled death,” said Butler. “We just pray that this doesn't ever happen to anyone else again. I had to get rid of that car. I just couldn't stand the idea that the remains were in that car.”
Timothy was a marine corp veteran working in the student financial aid industry. He went to Central High and was a graduate of Simon Gratz. The Butlers have filed suit against both Southern Cremations and Nix & Nix.
“This is a thing of a movie nightmare scene, and by filing this lawsuit today against both of these funeral homes, hopefully we can prevent this tragedy from ever happening again to a family,” said Butler.
The funeral homes have not responded to KYW Newsradio requests for comment.