A family was left devastated and traumatized when they discovered a stranger’s body inside their relative’s casket, leading to one family member suffering a heart attack due to the shock.

During Joey Espinosa’s funeral service at a funeral home, his aunt, Laura Levario, realized that the chosen casket did not contain Joey’s body. She expressed her horror upon realizing the mistake, stating that the body in the casket was not her nephew’s.

The distressing incident caused Laura’s husband to have a heart attack from the extreme stress, and he later recovered after being put on life support for three days. The family was then escorted to a different room in the Forest Lawn Covina Hills funeral home in California, where they encountered yet another incorrect casket.

According to Laura, it took the staff over an hour to guide them to the correct room, where they could finally begin the mourning process. The family described the ordeal as the most traumatic experience they had ever faced.

Forest Lawn attributed the mix-up to a “scheduling error” and offered the family $200 as an apology. However, this amount was insufficient to cover the nearly $20,000 funeral expenses. Consequently, the Espinosa family is pursuing legal action against the California mortuary for emotional distress and negligence.

Their lawyer emphasized the family’s distress, stating that instead of grieving their loved one, they were forced to search for the correct body. The attorney criticized the mortuary for failing to carry out their duties appropriately, especially given the substantial amount spent on the funeral services.

In a similar incident, two sisters were shocked to discover a stranger wearing their mother’s clothes in a coffin at a different funeral home. Despite initial denials by the staff, the family later found their mother’s body in the embalming room, confirming the mix-up.

The daughters highlighted the lack of resemblance between their mother and the unidentified woman, emphasizing the significant size difference between the two individuals. Only after locating their mother’s body in the embalming room did the funeral home workers acknowledge the mistake.

While the bodies were eventually swapped, allowing the funeral service to proceed as planned, the families involved were left traumatized by the distressing mix-ups.