Woodbridge funeral home gives grieving family wrong ashes
WOODBRIDGE, Va. - A Northern Virginia family is demanding answers after they say they received ashes in an urn that did not belong to their loved one.
The family says the cremation never took place even though they received the ashes.
The shocking ordeal took place at the Miller Funeral Home in Woodbridge, VA.
Family members say the cremation of 73-year-old Gangadar Sohan, who reportedly passed away from pneumonia, was scheduled for Friday.
Sohan's three daughters say they were all in the crematory room, saying goodbyes and giving approval to the funeral staff to proceed with the cremation.
The sisters told FOX 5 they witnessed a button being pushed. However, days later when they returned to the funeral home, they made an alarming discovery: Their dad's body was still in a casket and had not been cremated.
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One of Mr. Sohan's daughters, Tania, says the funeral home owner never explained why they didn't cremate her dad.
"He was just saying, ‘how can we make it right?’ Tania recalls. "But by then, we already felt lied to."
"Yeah, he was caught in a lie," says Brenda Karpaiya, Mr. Sohan‘s other daughter. "He wanted to cremate my dad's body right then and there, but because we lost trust, we just didn't want that to happen."
The family says they received no answers from the funeral home. Just a repeated request to, "make it right."
FOX 5’s Tisha Lewis spoke with Miller Funeral Home owner Mark Miller, and he said he could not comment on the allegations.
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In an email to FOX 5, Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney Amy Ashworth said a crime did not take place.
"The matter was investigated by the Prince William County Police Department. Detectives spoke with a prosecutor in my office. It is my understanding that there was not a crime that took place," the email reads. "The prosecutor did not ‘decide not to pursue charges’ – that statement implies that a crime took place, and we are not prosecuting it, which would be incorrect. The matter was referred to the agency that oversees the operation of funeral homes and cremations in Virginia."
The Sohan family has now retained an attorney and is pursuing a civil suit. They told FOX 5 that their loved one was ultimately transferred to Fairfax County and that is where he was cremated and laid to rest.